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Reticulitermes Flavipes: Geographic Range
Reticulitermes Flavipes: Geographic Range
Reticulitermes Flavipes: Geographic Range
By Scott Pence
Geographic Range Habitat Physical Description Reproduction Behavior Food Habits Economic Importance for Humans Other Comments Contributors References
Geographic Range
R. flavipes is found throughout the eastern United States, as faro north as the Mississippi and as far south as Mexico. It has been accidentally introduced to southern France.
Habitat
In the north, colony populations of R. flavipes can reach up to 1-10 million. In addition, these termites may forage on territories up to several thousand square meters (Myles, 1998) Of the termites, only R. flavipes and its cousin, R. tibialis, build "shelter tubes" over foundations or through cracks in timber. They build these with soil particles, saliva, and feces. These tubes require constant moisture and soil contact to sustain the colony (Myles, 1998). The subterranean termites, themselves, must have contact with the soil in order to survive (Krishna, 1989). They may also live in giant termite mounds
made of mud and ground mass. It is possible for termites to adjust the level of their nest to optimum moisture and stability levels.
Physical Description
Termites are thought to have diverged early in insect evolution. Ancestors had gradual metamorphosis and the ability to fold their wings over their backs. Their body plan is simple, while their social behavior is advanced. Termites are hemimetabolous, medium sized, polymorphic (having more than one form) social insects. They have biting mouthparts, and antennae comprising 9 to 30 segments. The alate forms (winged primary reproductives) have four almost equal wings and compound eyes; however, the sterile workers and the secondary reproductives have no or greatly reduced compound eyes. Each member of the R. flavipes colony (workers, soldiers, and kings & queens) looks different. R. flavipes soldiers are slightly bigger than workers and have enlarged and darkened orange head capsules. The workers are creamy-white and are approximately 5-6mm in length (Myles, 1998). As queens reproduce, they become massive creatures of up to 9cm long. The kings are cream colored like the workers, and look like tiny maggots compared to the queen. (Benavides, 1998).
Reproduction
R. flavipes reproduce in swarms. Swarming occurs when a colony reaches a certain size and when temperature and moisture levels are favorable. Usually this occurs on warm days after rainfall. Some researchers speculate that swarming occurs after rainfall because the ground is moist, which make it easier to create a new nesting site (Benavides, 1988). Alates, winged swarmers, fly from their native nest until they hit a "fracture point" in the air. This causes their wings to fall off (Benavides, 1998) This flight is not considered a mating flight because R. flavipes are only sexually attracted to their mates after their wings have broken off (Light, 1922). Once they find a mate, which takes a while because the female is choosy, they walk together to find a suitable nesting site. They mate after they've built a "nuptial chamber" in their new nest (Benavides, 1998). At her peak a queen will lay an egg every 3 seconds, or 30,000 a day. She will lay 10's of millions of eggs during her life (Ramel, 1998). The queen does not store a lifetime supply of sperm, so R. flavipes males remain as consorts to the queen (Benavides, 1998).
Behavior
R. flavipes are eusocial; They live in special colonies or "families" led by a monogamous king and a queen (Benavides, 1998). During the first days the queen lays about five
eggs. When these hatch they are first fed by regurgitation by the queen. Soon, however, they are eating surrounding wood and thus enlarging the nest. After 2 years the new nest may still contain as few as 10 workers and one soldier (soldiers take about a year to mature). After a few more years the nest begins to release sexuals. And that paves the ways for a new colony elsewhere (Ramel, 1998). Workers comprise the bulk of the population -- they feed everyone else in the colony, dig tunnels, locate food and water, and build and repair the nest. Soldiers, with their enlarged mandibles, provide defense against predators.
Food Habits
Termites ingest wood. They cannot, however, digest wood fibers. Instead, "Termites rely on single-celled animals -- protozoa -- that live in their gut to digest the hard components of wood, freeing up the cellulose that nourishes them." (Grady, 1996) They live off of the by-products of this process.
Primary Diet herbivore lignivore Plant Foods roots and tubers wood, bark, or stems
Other Comments
Researchers should be careful when studying termites. At Auburn University's Extension Hall, entomologists studying termites and other insects found that their building had been plagued for 15 years by an infestation of native Eastern subterranean termites ( R. flavipes). (Senticrom Webpage, 1993)
Contributors
Scott Pence (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Glossary
Nearctic living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
Palearctic living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.
bilateral symmetry having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria. ectothermic animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature forest forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality. herbivore An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants. introduced referring to animal species that have been transported to and established populations in regions outside of their natural range, usually through human action. native range the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
tropical savanna and grassland A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia. savanna A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome. temperate grassland A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5 N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.
References
Benavides, J.B. http://www.netside.net/~jb/images/easterntermite.html Grady, W. 1996. http://www.cangeo.ca/SO97ter2.htm. Hickman, C.P. and Roberts, L.S. 1995. Animal Diversity. Wm. C. Brown Publishers, Dubuque. Knowledge Adventure Website. http://www.adventure.com/encyclopedia/bug/rfitrmts.html 1997. 1998.
Krishna, K. 1989. Order Isoptera. In: D.J. Borror, C.A. Triplehorn and N.F. Johnson (Ed.) An Introduction to the Study of Insects. Saunders College Publishing, Philidelphia, pp234-241. Maeterlinck, M. 1927. The life of the white ant. Dodd, Mead & company, NY. Myles, T.G. 1998. http://www.utoronto.ca/forest/termite/termite.htm Ramel, G.J.L. 1998. http://info.ex.ac.uk/~gjlramel/isoptera.html Ratcliffe, F.N., Gay, F. J., and Greaves, T. 1952. Australian Termites. The Biology, Recognition and Economic Importance of the Common Species. C.S.I.R.O., Melbourne.
1993.
Su, N.Y. and Scheffraun, R.H. 1990. Economically Important Termites in the United States and Their Control. Sociobiology, 17, 77-94. Pictures: Photo: King and http://www.netside.net/~jb/Index_html/queens.jpg Picture: "Members of the Termite http://www.netside.net/~jb/Index_html/termite.gif Queen
Colony"