The results of biocontrol with entomopathogens in termites have been discouraging because of the strong social hygiene behavior for removing pathogens from termite colonies. However, the mechanism of pathogen detection is still unclear. For the successful application of biopesticides to termites in nature, it would be beneficial to identify substances that could disrupt the termite's ability to...

The gut microbiotas of cockroaches and termites play important roles in the symbiotic digestion of dietary components, such as lignocellulose. Diet has been proposed as a primary determinant of community structure within the gut, acting as a selection force to shape the diversity observed within this "bioreactor", and as a key factor for the divergence of the termite gut microbiota from the omn...

The effect of barriers of dry soil on the ability of Formosan subterranean termites, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), to construct tunnels and find food was evaluated. Termite movement and wood consumption in a three-chambered apparatus were compared between treatments with dry soil in the center container and treatments where the soil in the center container was mois...

to test whether termites of the Cryptotermes domesticus species might be able to discriminate between different sizes of wood. The team constructed experiments that presented termites with blocks of wood with a standard crosssectional diameter of 20x20 mm but of either 20 mm or 160 mm length. The insects were placed in a gap between the two faces of the timber blocks so that they were not able ...

Termites are both pests and non-conventional food resources in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many reluctant to eat them, the reasons for this rejection poorly known. This study examined level of knowledge, acceptance by members 10 main ethnic groups southern Cameroon. Most respondents (86 percent) were aware termites as with sixteen vernacular names areas. Acceptance among consumption varied between 96 p...

We present a new perspective for the role of Termitomyces fungi in the mutualism with fungus-growing termites. According to the predominant view, this mutualism is as an example of agriculture with termites as farmers of a domesticated fungus crop, which is used for degradation of plant-material and production of fungal biomass. However, a detailed study of the literature indicates that the ter...

Subterranean termites build complex tunnel networks below ground for foraging. During the foraging activity, termites may encounter a considerable number of tunnel intersections. When they encounter the intersections, they spend some time gathering information for making a decision regarding their moving direction by anntenation. The spent time is likely to be directly connected to the termites...

mark-release-recapture methods are used for delineating foraging territories of termite colonies and estimating their foraging populations. in this research, marking of termites was evaluated by the use of two ingested dyes: nile blue (nb) and neutral red (nr). in this experiment, filter paper circles were wetted with 1 ml of each dye at concentrations of 0.1%, 0.25% and 0.5% (treatments) and p...

Acoustical emission (AE) equipment was used to detect drywood termites Incisitermes minor in ponderosa pine Pinus ponderosa blocks under laboratory conditions. Using a 60 kHz transducer, AE levels were recorded for 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 termites per block. The association of AE and varying numbers of drywood termites best fit an exponential curve. These data suggest that the detection capabiliti...

Termites present a very good natural metaphor to evolutionary computation. While each individual’s computational power is small compared to more evolved species, it is the power of their colonies that inspires communication engineers. This paper presents a study of artificial termites in sensor networks for the purpose of solving its’ routing problem. The behaviours of each of the termites in t...