Figure 1

Developmental Pathways of Cryptotermes secundus. Caste differentiation in lower termites reflects larval polphenism as reproductives are the only adults. Workers which develop from totipotent eggs have the potential (i) to remain workers by moulting stationarily (moulting without change of the external morphology) or regressively (returning to morphological characters of an earlier instar), (ii) to develop into sterile soldiers that defend the colony, (iii) to become alates that disperse from the nest and found an own colony as primary reproductives, or (iv) to reproduce in the natal as neotenic replacement reproductives when the same-sex reproductive of the colony dies. The development from a worker into a neotenic requires only a single moult. Bold letters indicate castes used for analysis.