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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
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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

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