Macrotermes natalensis

Macrotermes natalensis is a fungus-growing termite species that belongs to the genus Macrotermes. This species is associated with the Termitomyces fungal genus. M. natalensis has domesticated Termitomyces to produce food for the colony. Both termite species- fungal genus- are obligate and mutually beneficial where termite relies on the fungus to break down for plant materiel and nutrient resource. In contrast, the fungal species obtain plant material and optimal conditions for growth.

This termite species lives in South Africa.

Genome data size: M. natalensis has become a well-studied fungus-growing termite species, and its genomic sequence reads generate 1.3 gigabytes of data, making it the largest termite genome to date.