ABSTRACT
Histological characteristics of the alimentary canal of termite workers and pseudo-workers are generally used for systematics and phylogeny studies. Research has confirmed the value of the workers’ spiral digestive tract model and its morphology for the systematics of higher termites, mainly in Termitidae. Thus, the present study was carried out describing the alimentary canal of Nasutitermes coxipoensis workers through light microscopy. Workers of N. coxipoensis were immobilized at low temperature (-4º C) for the extraction the alimentary canal, which was fixed in Bouin liquid for 24h, embedded in “paraplast,” the slices being stained by hematoxilin-eosin (H-E) and Mallory’s trichrome stain. Overall, the histological characteristics found for the alimentary canal of N. coxipoensis were consistent with those described in several species of termites, endorsing the method applied. However, this study found differences in the morphology of epithelial cells and on the types of epithelial folds in the region of the stomodeum regarding the arrangement and number of nests, as well as the presence of peritrophic membrane in the mesenterum region. Therefore, these characteristics may be used as criteria for the differentiation of species among termites of the genus Nasutitermes.
KEY WORDS
Systematics; termites; morphology; workers
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