Foraging Populations and Territories of Reticulitermes speratus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Tsunoda, Kunio; Matsuoka, Hiroaki; Yoshimura, Tsuyoshi; Tokoro, Masahiko

doi:10.1093/jee/92.3.604

Cited by 35 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…However, our laboratory colonies were considerably smaller (ca. 100 individuals) than colonies in the field (up to 500,000 individuals) (24), and it remains to be investigated whether there are additive inhibitory effects of the female-and egg-produced pheromones, which may provide a mechanism of honest signaling of reproductive status.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of a pheromone regulating caste differentiation in termites

Matsuura

Himuro

Yokoi

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

182

162

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The hallmark of social insects is their caste system: reproduction is primarily monopolized by queens, whereas workers specialize in the other tasks required for colony growth and survival. Pheromones produced by reining queens have long been believed to be the prime factor inhibiting the differentiation of new reproductive individuals. However, there has been very little progress in the chemical identification of such inhibitory pheromones. Here we report the identification of a volatile inhibitory pheromone produced by female neotenics (secondary queens) that acts directly on target individuals to suppress the differentiation of new female neotenics and identify n-butyl-n-butyrate and 2-methyl-1-butanol as the active components of the inhibitory pheromone. An artificial pheromone blend consisting of these two compounds had a strong inhibitory effect similar to live neotenics. Surprisingly, the same two volatiles are also emitted by eggs, playing a role both as an attractant to workers and an inhibitor of reproductive differentiation. This dual production of an inhibitory pheromone by female reproductives and eggs probably reflects the recruitment of an attractant pheromone as an inhibitory pheromone and may provide a mechanism ensuring honest signaling of reproductive status with a tight coupling between fertility and inhibitory power. Identification of a volatile pheromone regulating caste differentiation in a termite provides insights into the functioning of social insect colonies and opens important avenues for elucidating the developmental pathways leading to reproductive and nonreproductive castes.queen pheromone | inhibitory pheromone | social insect | honest signal | egg volatile R eproductive division of labor based on castes is a major transition in the evolution of social insects (1, 2). Regulation of the number of fertile queens requires communication between reproductive and nonreproductive individuals, often through pheromones (3-7). Queens of many social insect species produce a variety of pheromones that profoundly influence the behavior, development, and physiology of colony members. Since the discovery more than 50 y ago of the queen honey bee substance that inhibits the queen rearing behavior of workers (8), there has been very little progress in the chemical identification of inhibitory queen pheromones. In termites, which evolved eusociality independently of Hymenoptera, the existence of queen pheromones inhibiting the differentiation of supplementary queens has been suggested for many decades (5-7), but to date no active compounds have been identified. Although reproductive-specific hydrocarbons (9) and proteinaceous compounds (10) have recently been proposed as possible inhibitory pheromones in termites, there is no evidence of inhibitory effect of either of these classes of compounds.Colonies of termites can contain several types of reproductive individuals, depending on their developmental origin (Fig. S1). Termite colonies are typically founded by a monogamous pair of primary reproduct...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of a pheromone regulating caste differentiation in termites

Matsuura

Himuro

Yokoi

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

182

162

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“…Colonies of Coptotermes and Reticulitermes that are found in nature in any part of the world can contain several hundreds of thousands of individuals (Forschler and Townsend 1996;Tsunoda et al 1999); those individuals may forage several dozen or even hundreds of meters away from the nest (Tsunoda et al 1999;Dronnet et al 2005). Colonies, particularly those of invasive populations of Reticulitermes, may extend across several hectares (Leniaud et al 2009).…”

Section: Caste Social Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communication and Social Regulation in Termites

Bagnères

Hanus

2015

Social Recognition in Invertebrates

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Communication and social regulation are among the distinguishing features of termites: they are part of all basic aspects of termite biology, from ontogeny and caste differentiation to social behavior and cooperation. As in other highly social taxa, communication in termites predominantly relies on a complex network of chemical signals, which are complemented by vibration-based signals. In contrast to other social taxa, the role of visual cues is negligible. In this chapter, we review the recent literature on the different components that make up termite communication and social regulation systems by tracing termite evolution and examining the role played by different factors, such as sex and caste, and different behaviors, such as those related to defense, nestmate recognition, egg and brood care, foraging, and nest building, among others. The main characteristics of termites are compared to those of other social insects in the introduction. In the first section, we review the most important researches on termite communication and social regulation that are related to social activities in the basal phylogenetic lineages, and in the Termitidae (higher termites), the most advanced and diversified family. The abundant literature on the best studied genera, Reticulitermes, Coptotermes, and Heterotermes, which are considered for the purposes of this chapter to be intermediate termites, is reviewed and discussed separately in the second section. By using this approach, we seek to describe communication and social regulation systems in basal and primitive termites and illustrate how they have evolved to become more complex in intermediate and higher termites.

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“…3) (Su and Scheffrahn, 1996). The distance among log A, B, and C was approximately 70 m, suggesting that, the termite colonies feeding on logs A, B, and C were not the same because foraging territory of R. speratus colony is 6.0 -56.6 m 2 (Tsunoda et al, 1999).…”

Section: Field Applicability Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In a study using the triple mark-recapture-release method to evaluate the number of foraging workers of R. speratus (Kolbe), 109,400 -466,400 termites were observed per colony (Tsunoda et al, 1999), which is far fewer than other subterranean termite species such as C. formosanus. …”

Section: Assessment Of Field Applicabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%