Bioassayswere conducted to examine the response ofCoptotermes formosanus Shiraki andReticulitermesflavipes(Kollar) towholebodyextractsof termites.Bioassayswerealsoconducted to determine if trail-following behavior could be elicited in glass tubes after different lengths of exposure to termites and if termites showed any species-speciÞc response to exposed tubes. Trailfollowing behaviorwas elici...

Gut-associated microbes of insects are postulated to provide a variety of nutritional functions including provisioning essential amino acids (EAAs). Demonstrations of EAA provisioning in insect-gut microbial systems, nonetheless, are scant. In this study, we investigated whether the eastern subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes sourced EAAs from its gut-associated microbiota. δ (13)CEAA ...

The current study was undertaken to consider predictive methods for describing the vigor of Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) termites stored in a laboratory under conditions similar to control groups in bioassay. These novel methods were based on measurements for levels of biological molecules (uric acid, soluble proteins, lipid, and glycogen), percent water content, live weight, and running sp...

In the rhinotermitid termite Reticulitermes speratus (Kolbe) (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), facultative parthenogenesis is known to occur occasionally and females cooperate with other females to found the colony. To elucidate the ovarian development in these two females, incipient female-female colonies were established under laboratory conditions, and the process of colony development was observ...

The present study was conducted on protist species from R. lucifugus “Sicily” subspecies in a field site of Palermo (Sicily, Italy) on June 2015. Since protist species associated with R. lucifugus in Europe are still confused and recent revisions are lacking, this work aims at achieving greater clarity on these symbiosis trough a review of the literature in light of new phylogenetic studies on ...

Reticulitermes santonensis is a subterranean termite that invades urban areas in France and elsewhere where it causes damage to human-built structures. We investigated the breeding system, colony and population genetic structure, and mode of dispersal of two French populations of R. santonensis . Termite workers were sampled from 43 and 31 collection points, respectively, from a natural populat...

Temporal and spatial analyses are seldom utilized in the study of colony genetic structure, but they are potentially powerful methods which can yield novel insights into the mechanisms underlying variation in breeding systems. Here we present the results of a study which incorporated both of these dimensions in an examination of genetic structure of subterranean termites in the genus Reticulite...