Trail-Following Pheromones in the Termite Subfamily Syntermitinae (Blattodea, Termitoidae, Termitidae)

Abstract

Trail-following behaviour is a key to termite ecological success, allowing to orient themselves between the nesting and foraging sites. This behaviour is controlled by specific trail-following pheromones produced always by the abdominal sternal gland occurring in all termite species and developmental stages. Trail-following communication was studied in a broad spectrum of species, but the "higher" termites (i.e. Termitidae) from the subfamily Syntermitinae remain surprisingly neglected. To fill this gap, we studied the trail-following pheromone in 6 genera and 9 species of Syntermitinae. Our chemical and behavioural experiments showed that (3Z,6Z,8E)-dodeca-3,6,8-trien-1-ol is the single component of the pheromone of all the termite species studied, except Silvestritermes euamignathus. This species produces both (3Z,6Z)-dodeca-3,6-dien-1-ol and neocembrene, but only (3Z,6Z)dodeca-3,6-dien-1-ol elicits trail-following behaviour. Our results indicate the importance of (3Z,6Z,8E)-dodeca-3,6,8-trien-1-ol, the most widespread communication compound in termites, but also the repeated switches to other common pheromones as exemplified by S. euamignathus.

A Review of Termite Pheromones: Multifaceted, Context-Dependent, and Rational Chemical Communications

“…In 10 species, the constituents are completely (or partially) identical between the trail pheromone and the sex-pairing pheromone (Table 2). For example, (Z,Z,E)-3,6,8-dodecatrien-1-ol is used alone as both the trail pheromone and the sexpairing pheromone in Reticulitermes santonensis (Laduguie et al, 1994), Pseudacanthotermes militaris (Bordereau et al, 1993), Pseudacanthotermes spiniger (Bordereau et al, 1991(Bordereau et al, , 1993, and C. bequaerti (Bordereau et al, 2002;Sillam-Dussès et al, 2020b).…”

“…In contrast, in C. cumulans, this compound is used alone as the trail pheromone (Sillam-Dussès et al, 2020b), but used together with (E)-nerolidol as the sex-pairing pheromone .…”

The cGMP‐dependent protein kinase gene can regulate trail‐following behaviour and locomotion in the termite Reticulitermes chinensis Snyder

“…Chemical communication plays a key role in the coordination of social behaviours (such as foraging behaviour) in social insects (Gao et al, 2021; Gruter & Keller, 2016; Pless et al, 2015). There is evidence that trail pheromones are closely related to the termite foraging activities (Sillam‐Dussès et al, 2020). Foraging worker termites need to rely on trail pheromones to travel between the nest and the food site (Wen et al, 2014).…”