Cellulose degrading bacteria in termites are important plant degraders as they play an essential role digesting cellulose for termites. This study aimed to identify (Macrotermites michaelseni) collected from Kakamega and Kapsabet region. Six were aseptically crushed Eppendorf tube containing distilled water. To distinguish non-cellulose isolates, the homogenates inoculated on nutrient agar carb...

The harvester termite, Baucaliotermes hainesi (Fuller) (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae), is an endemic in southern Namibia, where it collects and eats dry grass. At the eastern, landward edge of the Namib Desert, the nests of these termites are sometimes visible above ground surface, and extend at least 60 cm below ground. The termites gain access to foraging areas through underground foraging tu...

BACKGROUND Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a pervasive chemical stimulus that plays a critical role in insect life, eliciting behavioral and physiological responses across different species. High CO2 concentration is a major feature of termite nests, which may be used as a cue for locating their nests. Termites also survive under an elevated CO2 concentration. However, the mechanism by which elevated C...

Termites play an important ecological role in many ecosystems, particularly in nutrient-poor arid and semi-arid environments. We examined the distribution and occurrence of termites in the fire-prone, semi-arid mallee region of south-eastern Australia. In addition to periodic large wildfires, land managers use fire as a tool to achieve both asset protection and ecological outcomes in this regio...

tunneling and activity bioassays of chlorfenapyr, fipronil, and imidacloprid treated sand were conducted in the laboratory using Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar). termites tunneled significantly less through sand treated with 1.0 ppm concentrations of fipronil and imidacloprid compared to the control and chlorfenapyr. Mortality after 7 d was 57, 25, and 29% for fipronil, chlorfenapyr, and imida...

Predators of highly defensive prey likely develop cost-reducing adaptations. The ant Megaponera analis is a specialized termite predator, solely raiding termites of the subfamily Macrotermitinae (in this study, mostly colonies of Pseudocanthotermes sp.) at their foraging sites. The evolutionary arms race between termites and ants led to various defensive mechanisms in termites (for example, a c...

Termites are a clade of eusocial wood-feeding roaches with > 3000 described species. Eusociality emerged ~ 150 million years ago in the ancestor modern termites, which, since then, have acquired and sometimes lost series adaptive traits defining their evolution. primarily feed on wood, digest cellulose association obligatory nutritional mutualistic gut microbes. Recent advances our understandin...

A study was carried out on the attack of termites in three cassava plots located zone Daloa (town center-west Côte d’Ivoire). The main objective this to ensure a sustainable productivity region by controlling termite’s pests crops according phenological stage, namely: plot at small stalk tuber production stage and harvest stage. To end, systematic excavations were sections along transects plant...