Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-03T16:21:22.697Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tunnel specificity and forager movement in subterranean termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae and Termitidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

T.A. Evans
T.A. Evans*
Affiliation:
CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, ACT, 2601Australia
*
*Fax: +61 2 6246 4000 E-mail: theo.evans@csiro.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The movement of foragers of two species of Australian, subterranean, mound-building termites, Coptotermes lacteus (Froggatt) (Rhinotermitidae) and Nasutitermes exitiosus (Hill) (Termitidae), was investigated in their natural habitat using artificial feeding sites along trenches dug to mimic natural forager tunnels that radiate out from the central mound-nests. Termites were dyed by self-feeding on cardboard soaked with histological fat-stains on one or two trenches and then termites were collected from other feeding sites at two and four weeks after the fat-stains were placed. At two and four weeks after marking commenced, 60–75% of marked termites were found in trenches containing the marked paper, and 2–16% were found in trenches on the opposite side of the nest. The proportion of marked termites in a sample was three to eight times greater in the trenches containing the marked paper relative to other trenches. Although difficulties with fat-stains used as markers might explain some of the observed patterns, it is evident that C. lacteus and N. exitiosus foragers do not move randomly between feeding sites in their natural habitat.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 92 , Issue 3 , June 2002 , pp. 193 - 201
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

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

Boland, D.J., Brooker, M.I.H., Chippendale, G.M., Hall, N., Hyland, B.P.M., Johnston, R.D., Kleinig, D.A. & Turner, J.D. (1992) Forest trees of Australia. Melbourne, CSIRO Publishing.Google Scholar
Bourke, A.F.G. & Heinze, J. (1994) The ecology of communal breeding – the case of multiple-queen leptothoracine ants. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 345, 359–372.Google Scholar
Curtis, A.D. & Waller, D.A. (1997) Problems with the interpretation of mark–release–recapture data in subterranean termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Sociobiology 30, 233–241.Google Scholar
Evans, T.A. (2000) Fast marking of termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Sociobiology 36, 517–533.Google Scholar
Evans, T.A. (2000) Foraging, building and task switching in worker termites. p. 20 in. In Proceedings of the Annuel Colloque, Section Française Union Internationale pour l'Etude des Insectes Sociaux, Dijon 6–8 September 2000. Dijon, Université de Bourgogne.Google Scholar
Evans, T.A. & Gleeson, P.V. (2001) Seasonal and daily activity patterns of subterranean termite foragers. Australian Journal of Zoology 49, 311–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, T.A., Lenz, M. & Gleeson, P.V. (1998) Testing assumptions of mark–recapture protocols for estimating population size using Australian, mound-building, subterranean termites. Ecological Entomology 23, 101–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, T.A., Lenz, M. & Gleeson, P.V. (1999) Estimating population size and forager movement in a tropical subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Environmental Entomology 28, 823–830.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forschler, B.T. & Townsend, M.L. (1996) Mark–recapture estimates of Reticulitermes spp. (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) colony foraging populations from Georgia, USA. Environmental Entomology 25, 952–962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greaves, T. (1962) Studies of foraging galleries and the invasion of living trees by Coptotermes acinaciformis and C. brunneus (Isoptera). Australian Journal of Zoology 10, 630–651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaib, M., Husseneder, C., Epplen, C., Epplen, J.T. & Brandl, R. (1996) Kin-biased foraging in a termite. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 263, 1527–1532.Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, F.N. & Greaves, T. (1940) The subterranean foraging galleries of Coptotermes lacteus (Frogg.). Journal of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research 13, 150–160.Google Scholar
Ross, K.G. (2001) Molecular ecology of social behaviour: analyses of breeding systems and genetic structure. Molecular Ecology 10, 265–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ross, K.G., Vargo, E.L., Keller, L. & Trager, J.C. (1993) Effect of a founder event on variation in the genetic sex-determining system of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta. Genetics 135, 843–854.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ross, K.G., Vargo, E.L. & Keller, L. (1996) Social evolution in a new environment: the case of introduced fire ants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 93, 3021–3025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shellman-Reeve, J.S. (1997) The spectrum of eusociality in termites. In The evolution of social behaviour in insects and arachnids. pp 52–93. [Choe, J.C. and Crespi, B.J., editors]. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sornnuwat, Y., Tsunoda, K., Yoshimura, T., Takahashi, M. & Vongkaluang, C. (1996) Foraging populations of Coptotermes gestroi (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in an urban area. Journal of Economic Entomology 89, 1485–1490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokal, R.R. & Rohlf, F.J. (1995) In Biometry. pp 3rd edn. New York, W.H. Freeman and Co.Google Scholar
Southwood, T.R.E. & Henderson, P.A. (2000) In Ecological methods. pp 3rd edn. Oxford, Blackwell Science.Google Scholar
Su, N.-Y. (1991) Evaluation of bait toxicants for suppression of subterranean termite populations. Sociobiology 19, 211–220.Google Scholar
Su, N.-Y. (1994) Field evaluation of a hexaflumuron bait for population suppression of subterranean termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 87, 389–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Su, N.-Y. & Scheffrahn, R.H. (1988) Foraging population and territory of the Formosan subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in an urban environment. Sociobiology 14, 353–359.Google Scholar
Su, N.-Y. & Scheffrahn, R.H. (1996) Fate of subterranean termite colonies (Isoptera) after bait applications. Sociobiology 27, 253–275.Google Scholar
Su, N.-Y., Tamashiro, M., Yates, J.R. & Haverty, M.I. (1984) Foraging behaviour of the Formosan subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Environmental Entomology 13, 1466–1470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Su, N.-Y., Ban, P.M. & Scheffrahn, R.H. (1991) Suppression of foraging populations of the Formosan subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) by field applications of a slow-acting toxicant bait. Journal of Economic Entomology 84, 1525–1531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Su, N.-Y., Ban, P.M. & Scheffrahn, R.H. (1993) Foraging populations and territories of the eastern subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in southeastern Florida. Environmental Entomology 22, 1113–1117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorne, B.L., Russek-Cohen, E., Forschler, B.T., Breisch, N.L. & Traniello, J.F.A. (1996) Evaluation of mark–recapture methods for estimating forager population size of subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) colonies. Environmental Entomology 25, 938–951.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tschinkel, W.R. (1988) Distribution of the fire ants Solenopsis invicta and S. geminata (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in northern Florida in relation to habitat and disturbance. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 81, 76–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsunoda, K., Matsuoka, H., Yoshimura, T. & Tokoro, M. (1999) Foraging populations and territories of Reticulitermes speratus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 92, 604–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar