Marking through molts: An evaluation of visible implant elastomer to permanently mark individuals in a lower termite species

Abstract

Advances in individual marking methods have facilitated detailed studies of animal populations and behavior as they allow tracking of individuals through time and space. Hemimetabolous insects, representing a wide range of commonly used model organisms, present a unique challenge to individual marking as they are not only generally small‐bodied, but also molt throughout development, meaning that traditional surface marks are not persistent. Visible implant elastomer (VIE) offers a potential solution as small amounts of the inert polymer can be implanted under the skin or cuticle of an animal. VIE has proved useful for individually marking fish, crustaceans, and amphibians in both field and laboratory studies and has recently been successfully trialed in laboratory populations of worms and fly larvae. We trialed VIE in the single‐piece nesting termite Zootermopsis angusticollis, a small hemimetabolous insect. We found that there was no effect of VIE on survival and that marks persisted following molting. However, we found some evidence that marked termites performed less allogrooming and trophallaxis than controls, although effect sizes were very small. Our study suggests that VIE is an effective technique for marking small hemimetabolous insects like termites but we advocate that caution is applied, particularly when behavioral observation is important.

Long-term Retention, Readability, and Health Effects of Visible Implant Elastomer (VIE) and Visible Implant Alpha (VI Alpha) Tags in Larval Eastern Hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis)

“…We also did not directly observe changes in mobility throughout our study, but injecting VIE tags into larval hellbender feet may have unintended maneuverability consequences in a natural setting and should be further investigated. Furthermore, limited studies on the effects of visible implants on the physiology of other taxa have been encouraging (Antwis et al, 2014; Neufeld et al, 2015), but the effects on behavior have been mixed as evidence suggests visible implants may influence certain social interactions (Frommen et al, 2015; Fürtbauer et al, 2015; Ruberto et al, 2018; Padget and Thompson, 2021). Though hellbenders are a nonsocial species, it may still be important to determine whether visible implants influence other traits, especially given their designation as a species of conservation concern.…”