Do termites avoid carcasses? Behavioral responses depend on the nature of the carcasses.

PloS One
Kok-Boon NeohChow-Yang Lee

Abstract

Undertaking behavior is a significant adaptation to social life in enclosed nests. Workers are known to remove dead colony members from the nest. Such behavior prevents the spread of pathogens that may be detrimental to a colony. To date, little is known about the ethological aspects of how termites deal with carcasses. In this study, we tested the responses to carcasses of four species from different subterranean termite taxa: Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki and Reticulitermes speratus (Kolbe) (lower termites) and Microcerotermes crassus Snyder and Globitermes sulphureus Haviland (higher termites). We also used different types of carcasses (freshly killed, 1-, 3-, and 7-day-old, and oven-killed carcasses) and mutilated nestmates to investigate whether the termites exhibited any behavioral responses that were specific to carcasses in certain conditions. Some behavioral responses were performed specifically on certain types of carcasses or mutilated termites. C. formosanus and R. speratus exhibited the following behaviors: (1) the frequency and time spent in antennating, grooming, and carcass removal of freshly killed, 1-day-old, and oven-killed carcasses were high, but these behaviors decreased as the carcasses aged; (2) the ter...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 11, 2019·Biology Letters·Sebastian OberstTheodore A Evans
Dec 27, 2019·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Jiri TumaTom M Fayle
May 23, 2020·Journal of Chemical Ecology·Yuki Mitaka, Kenji Matsuura
Sep 28, 2018·Scientific Reports·Hannah E DavisDino P McMahon
Jul 18, 2018·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Qian SunXuguo Zhou
Oct 3, 2020·Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal·Sebastian OberstTheodore A Evans

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