Fontanellar gun

The fontanellar gun is a termite defense mechanism in the form of a horn-like frontal projection (nasus) on the head of the soldier caste which is capable of expelling chemical weaponry at a distance, a trait exclusive to the subfamily Nasutitermitinae.

[4] The fired material is glue-like and sticks to objects that it hits, causing the legs of an attacking enemy to become stuck to the ground.

[5] The secretion contains an alarm pheromone that alerts other soldier termites of an enemy attack and causes them to fire their fontanellar gun.

Because later arriving termites did not also fire their gun, it is believed that the pinene pheromone lasts for only a brief period of time before dissipating.

Unlike true nasutes, all Syntermitinae exhibit soldiers with highly developed mandibles which are physiologically incapable of expelling their frontal gland secretions from the nasus.