this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
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[–] BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago (2 children)

If we kill them, do all the other termites turn back into normal ants?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The common ancestor of termites and ants is a lot more distant than you think.

Termites evolved from cockroaches and ants evolved from wasps.

https://www.uni-muenster.de/news/view.php?cmdid=9358

On the other hand, the answer is that the other termites all turn into crabs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation

[–] MonkderDritte@feddit.de 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Ah, queen and drone being able to fly is a leftover from wasps?

And yeah, the end of all arthropoda is always crabs.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I am guessing yes. And the formic acid stinger some ants have is a leftover too.

[–] shasta@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago

No, they just all die