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Dryad

Data from: Caste-biased patterns of brain investment in the subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes

Data files

May 20, 2024 version files 9.27 GB

Abstract

Investment into neural tissue is expected to reflect the specific sensory and behavioral capabilities of a particular organism. Termites are eusocial insects that exhibit a caste system in which individuals can develop into one of several morphologically and behaviorally distinct castes. However, it is unclear to what extent these differences between castes are reflected in the anatomy of the brain. To address this question, we used deformation-based morphometry to conduct pairwise comparisons between the brains of different castes in the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes. The dataset presented here consists of the confocal images of all the brains used in our analysis, separated by caste. Brains from five castes are presented - workers, soldiers, ergatoids, nymphs, and alates - which are further divided by sex.