TOLERANCE OF AARDWOLVES TO DEFENSE SECRETIONS OF TRINERVITERMES-TRINERVOIDES

Trinervitermes trinervoides provides over 90% of the diet of aardwolve s (Proteles cristatus) in South Africa. The soldiers of this termite p ossess highly effective chemical-defense secretions preventing most my rmecophagous mammals from specializing on them as a primary source of food. Soldiers of T. trinervoides were collected, liquidized in oil, a nd then added in different concentrations to the diets of captive aard wolves, African civets (Civettictis civetta), and bat-eared foxes (Oto cyon megalotis). The foxes refused to feed on the termite mixture, whe reas the civets and aardwolves tolerated concentrations of 1.0% and > 7.5% respectively; this supports the hypothesis that ancestral aardwol ves were phylogenetically preadapted, via their viverrid-like ancestor s, to tolerate noxious chemicals and hence the defense secretions of s oldiers of Trinervitermes.