Highly flexible patterns of eye development in Incisitermes minor

Among all of the castes and developmental stages of termites, only winged alates that are ready to fly, mate, and found new colonies need functional eyes. In fact, workers and soldiers of most termite species do not have pigmented eyes and are considered blind. In I. minor however, even larval stages possess clearly pigmented eyes and our data on the development of these eyes do not fit the general developmental patterns published for Kalotermitidae: five larval stages, two nymphal stages, and pseudergates. Our morphometrical analysis of seven body features, followed by cluster analysis, led to considerable variation between individuals belonging to one cluster. Light, Confocal, and Scanning Electron Microscopy allowed us to observe the progressive increase in the number of ommatidia over time and when comparing confocal data with SEM data for the same individuals, the number of ommatidia was significantly larger than the number of cuticular lenses. This discrepancy would either suggest that there was a developmental “lag” in lens formation, or that regressive molts produce pseudergates with a reduced number of lenses, but not number of ommatidia.