Migration and nest building inCubitermes fungifaber (Isoptera, Termitidae)

Coming out of the woods: do termites need a specialized worker caste to search for new food sources?

“…In any case, the colonization of a new piece of wood by P. inopinatus, involving the migration of neotenics, suggests that the exploratory and trail establishment behavior of P. inopinatus is part of a home-moving strategy rather than of a simple food-gathering process. Colony migration has seldom been documented in termites (Noirot et al 1986;Roisin and Pasteels 1986), but it is likely that the behaviors involved in the exploration of the environment, in the selection of a suitable site, and in the establishment of trails for colony moving are similar to those involved in the discovery and exploitation of a food source remote from the nest.…”

Permanent groundwater storage in basaltic dyke fractures and termite mound viability

“…The new colony would settle at a minimum distance from the first mound determined by the requirements for both the old and new colonies to feed. However, this solution would not be appropriate for more than a couple of mounds because practically, the mounds that are surrounded by two mounds or more would need to migrate over distances of hundreds of metres, much more than the migration distances reported in the literature (e.g., Noirot et al, 1986). (3) One of the key building materials for mound building is clay, which mixed with termite saliva, cements mound internal and external walls (Bodot, 1967a;Bachelier, 1977;Boyer, 1982) and contributes to maintaining appropriate termitary moisture (Lee and Wood, 1971, p. 62).…”

“…Although the density of mounds per hectare is sometimes given, spacing does not appear to have been studied in itself. For Cubitermes fungifaber, mean spacing between successively built mounds (i.e., independently of the general spatial distribution of mounds in the studied area) has been observed to be 3.2 m (Noirot et al, 1986), but scattering is high, ranging between 1 and 5 m. Migration distances for Anoplotermes were observed to be 10-15 m (Grassé and Noirot, 1951). Sattaur (1991) and Miller et al (1994) have also reported parallel, 0.4 m (Miller et al) to 2 m (Sattaur) high Odontotermes ridges several hundred metres long (from high-resolution satellite imagery made available by DigitalGlobe TM through Google Earth, 2009) in Botswana, displaying a regular spacing of $50 m. Ridge orientation is clearly influenced by the local hydrologic patterns.…”

“…Foundation of a new colony may be achieved either by swarming (e.g., Basalingappa, 1974) although the primary objective of swarming is nuptial (Grassé, 1942(Grassé, , 1984, by sociotomy (colony fragmentation by migration on the ground of termite groups in which all the casts are represented and aiming at founding a new settlement site; Grassé and Noirot, 1951;Basalingappa, 1976;Grassé, 1984, p. 135-138), or by underground migration along galleries (Noirot et al, 1986). In case of swarming, the maximum distance alate can fly ranges between a few tens of metres (Bodot, 1967b) and kilometres (Nutting, 1969) or more, depending on both species and wind conditions (Ratcliffe et al, 1962, p. 22).…”

“…In case of underground migration of a termite group, the termites would naturally follow the dyke fractures, but little information is available as to the maximum distance they would travel. The underground Cubitermes fungifaber migrants studied by Noirot et al (1986) have migrated a few metres only.…”