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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1994 Jun 7;91(12):5441–5445. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.12.5441

Methane production in terrestrial arthropods.

J H Hackstein 1, C K Stumm 1
PMCID: PMC44011  PMID: 8202505

Abstract

We have screened more than 110 representatives of the different taxa of terrestrial arthropods for methane production in order to obtain additional information about the origins of biogenic methane. Methanogenic bacteria occur in the hindguts of nearly all tropical representatives of millipedes (Diplopoda), cockroaches (Blattaria), termites (Isoptera), and scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae), while such methanogens are absent from 66 other arthropod species investigated. Three types of symbiosis were found: in the first type, the arthropod's hindgut is colonized by free methanogenic bacteria; in the second type, methanogens are closely associated with chitinous structures formed by the host's hindgut; the third type is mediated by intestinal anaerobic protists with intracellular methanogens. Such symbiotic associations are likely to be a characteristic property of the particular taxon. Since these taxa represent many families with thousands of species, the world populations of methane-producing arthropods constitute an enormous biomass. We show that arthropod symbionts can contribute substantially to atmospheric methane.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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