Journal Title
Title of Journal: Insectes soc
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Abbravation: Insectes Sociaux
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Publisher
Birkhäuser-Verlag
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Authors: Y Roisin M Lenz
Publish Date: 2014/02/08
Volume: 46, Issue: 3, Pages: 273-280
Abstract
Coptotermes is a widespread and economically important genus but essential features of its caste system remain poorly known In the Australian species C lacteus Froggatt 1898 Lenz and Runko 1993 found that orphaned colonies headed by nymphoid replacement reproductives produce all year round a brood of nymphs which is almost exclusively male A detailed study of castes in colonies of C lacteus headed by primary reproductives was thus desirable firstly as a fundamental contribution to the understanding of caste evolution in Rhinotermitidae secondly to provide a sound basis for further studies of sex allocation patterns in this species After two larval instars without visible differentiation the development of C lacteus forks with an apterous line diverging from the nymphal line The nymphal line comprises 6 nymphal instars followed by the alate The apterous line includes at least 8 possibly up to 11 worker instars Among workers of instars 1 – 3 females tend to be sligthtly larger than males but this sexual dimorphism disappears in older instars Soldiers are monomorphic and seem to derive exclusively from old female workers The sex ratio is near 1 1 in larvae and young or middleaged workers but the oldest worker cohort becomes depleted in females as these moult to presoldiers Except for the allfemaleness of the soldier caste the caste pattern of C lacteus is similar to that of Reticulitermes species and probably close to the ancestral pattern for termites that possess a distinct worker caste
Keywords:
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Other Papers In This Journal:
- Mating frequency and maternity of males in Melipona mondury (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
- Elevational and geographic variation in army ant swarm raid rates
- Task allocation and reproductive skew in social mass provisioning carpenter bees in relation to age and size
- Size and composition of swarming colonies in Provespa anomala (Hymenoptera, Vespidae), a nocturnal social wasp
- Der Einfluss von Umweltbedingungen auf die Bildung von Gynandromorphen bei der Honigbiene Apis mellifica L.
- Bumble bee olfactory information flow and contact-based foraging activation
- Sexual interactions and nestmate recognition in invasive populations of Polistes dominulus wasps
- Regional trends and preliminary results on the local expansion rate in the invasive garden ant, Lasius neglectus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
- Behavioral defense strategies of the stingless bee, Austroplebeia australis , against the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida
- Alkylpyrazines: alarm pheromone components of the little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
- Olfactory associative learning in two African stingless bee species ( Meliponula ferruginea and M. bocandei , Meliponini)
- The distribution of weaver ant pheromones on host trees
- Vision-based ability of an ant-mimicking jumping spider to discriminate between models, conspecific individuals and prey
- The influence of soil temperature on the nesting cycle of the halictid bee Lasioglossum malachurum
- Cooperative transport in ants: a review of proximate mechanisms
- The production of soldiers and the maintenance of caste proportions delay the growth of termite incipient colonies
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