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5 June 2019 Fused Colonies of the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) for Laboratory Experiments
Sang-Bin Lee, Aaron Mullins, Daniel Aguilera-Olivares, Thomas Chouvenc, Nan-Yao Su
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Abstract

Laboratory studies of Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) often employ the use of field-collected foraging populations of individuals as defined colonies. The biological relevance of this practice is often called into question, because these colonies lack a full composition of reproductive castes and brood, which may have physiological and behavioral consequences. Rearing intact laboratory colonies can be done; however, it is time-consuming and labor-intensive. The artificial fusion of field-collected foraging populations with a young, laboratory-reared incipient colony may provide whole, intact colonies for laboratory research. The current study measures survivorship of fused colonies using laboratory-reared complete incipient colonies ranging in age from 0 to 5 mo, fused with 100 workers and 10 soldiers from field-collected populations of different colonial origin. Results indicate that 60% of colony fusion was successful when the incipient colony introduced is 5 mo of age. This method of colony fusion will provide researchers with intact colonies using minimal resources.

© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Sang-Bin Lee, Aaron Mullins, Daniel Aguilera-Olivares, Thomas Chouvenc, and Nan-Yao Su "Fused Colonies of the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) for Laboratory Experiments," Journal of Economic Entomology 112(5), 2311-2315, (5 June 2019). https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toz154
Received: 21 March 2019; Accepted: 9 May 2019; Published: 5 June 2019
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KEYWORDS
agonistic behavior
C. formosanus
colony fusion
incipient colony
intracolonial aggression
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