Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-08T05:37:11.821Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Termite colony ontogeny: a long-term assessment of reproductive lifespan, caste ratios and colony size in Reticulitermes flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

C.E. Long ,
B.L. Thorne  and
N.L. Breisch
C.E. Long*
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, 4112 Plant Science Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA
B.L. Thorne
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, 4112 Plant Science Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA
N.L. Breisch
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, 4112 Plant Science Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA
*
*Fax: (301) 314 9290 E-mail: cmall@wam.umd.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Thirty Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) colonies established by alates collected from two separate field sites were raised in the laboratory for eight years. Twenty-one of the colonies were founded by alates from one field source and nine from another, providing demographic data from two unrelated parental lineages. Colony totals ranged from 3620 to 11641 individuals, with no significant difference in size between lineages. Soldier caste proportion of the colony total and mean wet weights for workers, soldiers and kings were significantly different between the two lineages. This suggests that at least a portion of the variability observed in caste ratios and body size may be heritable. One founding reproductive had died in five of the colonies (17%); none lost both parents. The queenless colonies contained exclusively female replacement reproductives (neotenics); the kingless colony contained a female-skewed mixture of male and female neotenics. All the nests that lost a founding parent contained significantly more pre-alate nymphs than the nests with both a king and a queen. Comparisons with published reports of ontogenetic patterns in other termites and social insects are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 93 , Issue 5 , September 2003 , pp. 439 - 445
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arcila, A.M., Gomez, L.A. & Ulloa-Chacon, P. (2002) Immature development and colony growth of Crazy ant Paratrechina fulva under laboratory conditions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology 39, 307–322.Google Scholar
Banks, N. & Snyder, T.E. (1920) A revision of the Nearctic termites. United States National Museum Bulletin 108. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Bulmer, M.S., Adams, E.S. & Traniello, J.F.A. (2001) Variation in colony structure in the subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes. Behavioral and Ecological Sociobiology 49, 236–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buo-Yao, C., Zhi-Nua, Z. & Zhen, C. (1988) The relationship between body size of the queen and colony development in termite Odontotermes fontanellus Kemner. Acta Entomologica Sinica 31, 26–31.Google Scholar
Chew, R.M. (1987) Population dynamics of colonies of three species of ants in desertified grassland, southeastern Arizona, 1958–1981. American Midland Naturalist 118, 177–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa-Leonardo, A.M., Barsotti, R.C. & Soares, H.X. (1996) Multiple nymphoid reproductives in the nests of the neotropical termite, Armitermes euamignathus (Isoptera: Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae). Sociobiology 28, 197–205.Google Scholar
Fowler, H.G. (1986) Polymorphism and colony ontology in North American carpenter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Camponotus pennsylvanicus and Camponotus ferrugineus. Zoological Journal of Physiology 90, 297–316.Google Scholar
Gibson, R.L. (1989) Soldier production in Camponotus novaeboracensis during colony growth. Insectes Sociaux 36, 28–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grace, J.K. (1996) Temporal and spatial variation in caste proportions in a northern Reticulitermes flavipes colony (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Sociobiology 28, 225–231.Google Scholar
Grace, J.K., Yamamato, R.T. & Tamashio, M. (1995) Relationship of individual worker mass and population decline in a Formosan subterranean termite colony (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Environmental Entomology 24, 1258–1262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grassé, P.P. & Noirot, C. (1960) Rôle respectif des mâles et des femelles dans la formation des sexués néoténiques chez Kalotermes flavicollis. Insectes Sociaux 7, 323–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haverty, M.I. (1977) The proportion of soldiers in termite colonies: a list and bibliography. Sociobiology 2, 199–216.Google Scholar
Haverty, M.I. & Howard, R.W. (1981) Production of soldiers and maintenance of soldier proportion by laboratory experimental groups of Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) and Reticulitermes virginicus (Banks) (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Insectes Sociaux 28, 32–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herbers, J.M. (1980) On caste ratios in ant colonies: population responses to changing environments. Evolution 34, 575–585.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hölldobler, B. & Wilson, E.O. (1990) The ants. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, R.W. & Haverty, M.I. (1980) Reproductives in mature colonies of Reticulitermes flavipes: abundance, sex-ratio, and association with soldiers. Environmental Entomology 9, 458–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, R.W. & Haverty, M.I. (1981) Seasonal variation in caste proportions of field colonies of Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar). Environmental Entomology 10, 546–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, R.W., Jones, S.C., Mauldin, J.K. & Beal, R.H. (1982) Abundance, distribution, and colony size estimates for Reticulitermes spp. (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in southern Mississippi. Environmental Entomology 11, 1290–1293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenne, M., Dejean, A., Feneron, R. & Durand, J.L. (2000) Changes in worker polymorphism in Myrmicaria opaciventris Emery (Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Insectes Sociaux 47, 50–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, L. (1998) Queen lifespan and colony characteristics in ants and termites. Insectes Sociaux 45, 235–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, T.M., Basten, C.J., Dean, R., Mitchell, S.E., Kresovich, S. & Forschler, B.T. (1998) Matriarchal genetic structure of Reticulitermes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) populations. Sociobiology 33, 239–263.Google Scholar
Jenkins, T.M., Basten, C.J., Kresovich, S. & Forschler, B.T. (1999) Mitochondrial gene sequence questions Reticulitermes sp. social structure (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Sociobiology 34, 161–172.Google Scholar
Lainé, L.V. & Wright, D.J. (2003) The life cycle of Reticulitermes spp. (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae): what do we know? Bulletin of Entomological Research 93, 267–278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lenz, M. & Barrett, R.A. (1982) Neotenic formation in field colonies of Coptotermes lacteus (Froggatt) in Australia, with comments on the roles of neotenics in the genus Coptotermes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Sociobiology 7, 47–59.Google Scholar
Lenz, M. & Runko, S. (1993) Long-term impact of orphaning on field colonies of Coptotermes lacteus (Froggatt) (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Insectes Sociaux 40, 439–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luykx, P. (1986) Termite colony dynamics as revealed by the sex- and caste-ratios of whole colonies of Incisitermes schwarzi Banks (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae). Insectes Sociaux 33, 221–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luykx, P. (1993) Turnover in termite colonies, a genetic study of colonies of Incisitermes schwarzi headed by replacement reproductives. Insectes Sociaux 40, 191–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGlynn, T.P. & Owen, J.P. (2002) Food supplementation alters caste allocation in a natural population of Phaeidole flavens, a dimorphic leaf-litter dwelling ant. Insectes Sociaux 49, 8–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGlynn, T.P., Hoover, J.R., Jasper, G.R., Kelly, M.S., Polis, A.M., Spangler, C.M. & Watson, B.J. (2002) Resources heterogeneity affects demography of the Costa Rican ant. Aphaenogaster araneoides. Journal of Tropical Ecology 18, 231–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, E.M. (1969) Caste differentiation in the lower termites. pp. 283–310in Krishna, K. & Weesner, F.M. (Eds.) Biology of termites, Vol. I. New York, Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myles, T.G. (1999) Review of secondary reproduction in termites (Insecta: Isoptera) with comments on its role in termite ecology and social evolution. Sociobiology 33, 1–94.Google Scholar
Myles, T.G. & Nutting, W.L. (1988) Termite eusocial evolution: a re-examination of Bartz's hypothesis and assumptions. Quarterly Review of Biology 63, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noirot, C. & Darlington, J. (2000) Termite nests: architecture, regulation, and defense. pp. 121–140in Abe, T. et al. (Eds) Termites: evolution, sociality, symbioses, ecology1. Netherlands, Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nutting, W.L. (1970) Composition and size of some termite colonies in Arizona and Mexico. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 63, 1105–1110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oldroyd, B.P., Thexton, E.G., Lawler, S.H. & Crozier, R.H. (1997) Population demography of Australian feral bees (Apis mellifera). Oecologia 111, 381–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Otis, G.W. (1982) Population biology of the Africanized honey bee. pp. 209–219In Jaisson, P. (Ed.) Social insects in the Tropics. Proceedings of the First International Symposium, Vol. I. November 1980Mexico.Google Scholar
Passera, L., Roncin, E., Kaufmann, B. & Keller, L. (1996) Increased soldier production in ant colonies exposed to intraspecific competition. Nature 379, 630–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickens, A. (1934) The biology and economic significance of the western subterranean termite, Reticulitermes hesperus. pp. 157–183in Kofoid, C. (Ed.) Termites and termite control. 2nd edn. Berkeley, University of California Press.Google Scholar
Reilly, L.M. (1987) Measurements of inbreeding and average relatedness in a termite population. American Naturalist 130, 339–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAS Institute (2000) User's manual, version 8.2. Cary, North Carolina, SAS Institute.Google Scholar
Snyder, T.E. (1920) The colonizing reproductive adults of termites. Entomological Society of Washington 22, 109–150.Google Scholar
Snyder, T.E. (1934) Our enemy the termite. Ithaca, Comstock Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Snyder, T.E. (1954) The termites (order Isoptera) of the United States and Canada. Baltimore, Monumental Printing Company.Google Scholar
Thorne, B.L. (1984) Polygyny in the neotropical termite Nasutitermes corninger: life history consequences of queen mutualism. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 14, 117–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorne, B.L., Breisch, N.L. & Traniello, J.F.A. (1997) Incipient colony development in the subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Sociobiology 30, 145–159.Google Scholar
Tschinkel, W. (1988) Colony growth and the ontogeny of worker polymorphism in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 22, 103–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargo, E.L. (2000) Polymorphism at trinucleotide microsatellite loci in the subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes. Molecular Ecology 9, 817–829.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, E.O. (1971) The insect societies. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar