Prk. Richardson et Cd. Levitan, TOLERANCE OF AARDWOLVES TO DEFENSE SECRETIONS OF TRINERVITERMES-TRINERVOIDES, Journal of mammalogy, 75(1), 1994, pp. 84-91
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.