Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:30:37.032Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interspecific trail-following and evidence of similarity of trails of Trinervitermes species from different habitats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2011

G. W. Oloo  and
P. G. McDowell
G. W. Oloo
Affiliation:
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya
P. G. McDowell
Affiliation:
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya
Get access

Abstract

In choice tests with well-established natural trails and glandular extract trails, allopatric populations of Trinervitermes bettonianus Sjöst followed alien colonies' trails with the same degree of motivation as their own trails. The five Trinervitermes spp. tested readily followed each other's trail. Chromatographs of natural trail extracts showed that the main component of the T. bettonianus trail pheromone also occurs in trails of T. gratiosus (and presumably in the other species); this would account for the observed cross-following of trails among these species.

Keywords

Trinervitermes spp.intra- and interspecific trail-followingsimilarity of trail pheromone component
Type
Research Articles
Information
International Journal of Tropical Insect Science , Volume 3 , Issue 2-3 , September 1982 , pp. 157 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 1982

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

REFERENCES

Howard, R. F., Matsumura, F. and Coppel, H. C. (1976) Trail-following pheromones of the Rhinotermitidae: approaches to their authentication and specificity. J. chem. Ecol. 2, 147–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leuthold, R. H. and Lüscher, M. (1974) An unusual caste polymorphism of the sternal gland and its trail pheromone production in the termite Trinenitermes bettonianus. Insectes soc. 21, 335–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsumura, F., Jewett, D. M. and Coppel, H. C. (1972) Interspecific response of termites to synthetic trail-following substances. J. econ. Ent. 65, 600–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, B. P. (1974) Pheromones in termite societies. In Pheromones (Ed. by Birch, M. C.), pp. 250–266. North-Holland/American Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Oloo, G. W. (1981a) Specificity of termite trails: analysis of natural trails of Trinervitermes, Macrotermes and Odontotermes from sympatric populations. Entomologia exp. appl. 29, 162–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oloo, G. W. (1981b) The sternal gland: variation in size and activity in worker instars of Trinervitermes bettoniamis (Sjöst) (Termitidae). Insect Sci. Applic. 2, 145–147.Google Scholar
Oloo, G. W. and Leuthold, R. H. (1979) The influence of food on trail-laying and recruitment behaviour in Trinervitermes bettonianus (Sjöst) (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae). Entomologia exp. appl. 26, 267–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, S. (1956) Non-parametric Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Torgerson, R. L. and Akre, R. D. (1970) The persistence of army ant chemical trails and their significance in the Ecitonine-Ecitophile association (Formicidae:Ecitonini). Melandria 5, 1–28. In Pheromones (Ed. by Birch M. C.), pp. 222–249. North-Holland/American Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar