Antipredator Behavior Produced by Heterosexual and Homosexual Tandem Running in the Termite Reticulitermes chinensis (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Li, Ganghua; Zou, Xiaofen; Lei, Chaoliang; Huang, Qiuying

doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v60i2.198-203

Cited by 10 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In termite species that have large colonies, more and more sophisticated solutions must have been evolving in terms of the division of labor between and within castes. Defense against macropredators such as ants may have also played a key role in shaping termite caste evolution; for instance, more vigorous dealate males seem to be under selective pressure to become better fighters (Li et al 2013). Altruistic behavior thus provides a further layer of colony protection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communication and Social Regulation in Termites

Bagnères

Hanus

2015

Social Recognition in Invertebrates

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Communication and social regulation are among the distinguishing features of termites: they are part of all basic aspects of termite biology, from ontogeny and caste differentiation to social behavior and cooperation. As in other highly social taxa, communication in termites predominantly relies on a complex network of chemical signals, which are complemented by vibration-based signals. In contrast to other social taxa, the role of visual cues is negligible. In this chapter, we review the recent literature on the different components that make up termite communication and social regulation systems by tracing termite evolution and examining the role played by different factors, such as sex and caste, and different behaviors, such as those related to defense, nestmate recognition, egg and brood care, foraging, and nest building, among others. The main characteristics of termites are compared to those of other social insects in the introduction. In the first section, we review the most important researches on termite communication and social regulation that are related to social activities in the basal phylogenetic lineages, and in the Termitidae (higher termites), the most advanced and diversified family. The abundant literature on the best studied genera, Reticulitermes, Coptotermes, and Heterotermes, which are considered for the purposes of this chapter to be intermediate termites, is reviewed and discussed separately in the second section. By using this approach, we seek to describe communication and social regulation systems in basal and primitive termites and illustrate how they have evolved to become more complex in intermediate and higher termites.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communication and Social Regulation in Termites

Bagnères

Hanus

2015

Social Recognition in Invertebrates

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“…Then, we compared the individual capture rates per predatory attack between single and tandem dealates, and between front and back dealates in tandems according to the method of Li et al . ().…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The behavior of homosexual tandem running was also found in the termites Zootermopsis spp. (Howse, ), R. speratus (Matsuura et al ., ), Coptotermes formosamus (Husseneder & Simms, ) and R. chinensis (Li et al ., ). Matsuura et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…() suggested that homosexual tandem running in R. speratus was not only an antipredatory behavior but also an indirect sexual selection mechanism between males. A similar conclusion was also obtained for R. chinensis (Li et al ., ). However, the spread of this antipredatory behavior and sexual selection mechanism within the Isoptera remains unknown (Li et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…A similar conclusion was also obtained for R. chinensis (Li et al ., ). However, the spread of this antipredatory behavior and sexual selection mechanism within the Isoptera remains unknown (Li et al ., ). Thus, it is necessary to further study the effect of tandem running on predation risk and pairing competition in other species of termites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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A trade‐off between antipredatory behavior and pairing competition produced by male‑male tandem running in three Reticulitermes species

Liu

Lei

et al. 2014

Insect Science

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Due to the omnipresent risk of predation, termites have evolved many antipredatory behaviors. The two related species Reticulitermes speratus and R. chinensis have been demonstrated to use homosexual tandem running to decrease individual predation risk after shedding their wings. In this study, we tested risk of predation in the termite R. flaviceps, which is distantly related to the above two species. We determined that homosexual tandem running also led to low individual predation risk in dealates of R. flaviceps. Moreover, by combining a predation model with a competition model, we observed a typical trade-off phenomenon between antipredatory behavior and pairing competition produced by male-male tandem running in the above three Reticulitermes species. Our results indicated that male-male tandem running could effectively protect disadvantaged individuals from being caught, but disadvantaged individuals would be easily eliminated in pairing competition after male-male tandem running, suggesting that male-male tandem running can promote population evolution in termites by repeatedly removing the relatively inferior male individuals.

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