title: Panic escape polyethism in worker and soldier Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae).
abstract: Termites were the first animal to form societies. Two hundred million years of evolution provide for a multitude of innate social behaviors that can be experimentally dissected. These fine-tuned patterns of behavior are especially interesting when observing group decision making in the panic mode. In this study, we examined behavioral patterns of termites under panic conditions to gain insight into how an escape flow self-organizes. One hundred worker and 10 soldier Coptotermes formosanus were released into agar plates. After a disturbance was created most workers followed each other and ran along the wall of dishes, thus forming a unidirectional escape flow, whereas soldiers showed a significantly higher frequency of moving to the center of the arena or on periphery of the escape flow as compared to workers. Agonistic behavior was usually observed as soldiers moved to center or periphery. This is the first report on the behavioral repertoire of termites when panicked, with details on the behavioral polymorphism of workers and soldiers during an escape.
authors: Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
authors: Cai
authors: C
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
authors: Gregg
authors: G
authors: Henderson
authors: Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
authors: Bal K
authors: BK
authors: Gautam
authors: Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
authors: Dependra
authors: D
authors: Bhatta
mesh_terms: D000378:Agonistic Behavior; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004924:Escape Reaction; D020049:Isoptera / Q000502:physiology*; D010200:Panic
keywords: behavioral polymorphism; caste; escape flow; self-organized system; termite