Some termites (such as the soldiers of Globitermes sulphureus) release a sticky secretion by rupturing a gland near the skin of their neck, producing a tar effect in defense against ants.
[2] Groups of termites whose soldiers have been found to use autothysis to defend their colonies include: Serritermes serrifer, Dentispicotermes, Genuotermes, and Orthognathotermes.
[2][3] The soldiers of the Neotropical termite family Serritermitidae have a defense strategy which involves front gland autothysis, with the body rupturing between the head and abdomen.
[5][6] Some ants belonging to the genera Camponotus and Colobopsis have adapted to using autothysis as an altruistic defensive trait to better fight against arthropods and to possibly deter vertebrate predators for the benefit of the colony as a whole.
The compounds used in autothysis, however, have also been explained to have some use in deterring vertebrate predators from eating the ants, because these products are inedible.