Feeding site selection by workers of the Formosan subterranean termite Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) - a re-analysis of field data from a mark-recapture study.
During the early stages of the development of termite baits, dyed paper was placed in specified feeding stations to ascertain whether a slow-acting toxicant could be placed in a few bait stations to be delivered to the entire colony members of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki. Feeding frequency data, as measured by the dye concentration in individual termites, suggested the absence of feeding site fidelity. However, these results were often misinterpreted as random movement of termites that were marked and released for population estimate studies, or the random search of food in soil by subterranean termites. A computer simulation program was constructed to re-examine this feeding frequency data, and confirmed the earlier conclusion that the lack of feeding site fidelity was the most likely explanation for the data.
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Department of Entomology and Nematology, fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Lauderdale, FL 33314, USA. nysu@ufl.edu
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D000818:Animals; D004435:Eating; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D020049:Isoptera / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological