Annals of the Entomological Society of America

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Annals of the Entomological Society of America 97(3):466-475. 2004
doi: 10.1603/0013-8746(2004)097[0466:COMAPL]2.0.CO;2

Census of Monogyne and Polygyne Laboratory Colonies Illuminates Dynamics of Population Growth in Reticulitermes flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Sabine Grube and Brian T. Forschler

Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602

Abstract

One hundred and three laboratory colonies of the eastern subterranean termite. Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar). ranging from 4 mo to 9 yr of age, were destructively sampled, and the numbers of eggs and other life stages were counted. Polygyny was maintained in 9.7% (n = 31) of the groups censused at four months, whereas monogyny was the only condition found thereafter. Polyandry was recorded in 17% of colonies sampled over a 2-yr period. Colonies set up with multiple males/females achieved similar rates of progeny (numbers, caste proportions, and biomass) compared with colonies initiated by a single royal pair. The soldier caste was present at the 4-mo census, whereas nymphs and neotenics first occurred in 2-yr-old groups. Primary queens reached a mean body mass of 7.06 mg (SD 2.4) after 2 yr and did not gain considerable weight between 2 and 4 yr. Two 6-yr-old queens weighed 17 and 18 mg, respectively, and produced the highest number of eggs per day. A simple computer model of colony growth, using both egg-laying rates obtained from our census and hypothetical egg-laying rates, revealed that the expected number of larvae matched the numbers censused in colonies up to 2 yr of age, although worker numbers were consistently overestimated. The data indicate that a monogyne colony of R. flavipes could not attain the population size occasionally described in field studies. Extrapolating laboratory data and potential reproductive mechanisms that can account for field data are discussed.

Received: July 8, 2003; Accepted: December 15, 2003

Keywords: subterranean termites, population model, reproductive strategies, polyandry



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Fig. 1. Mean soldier:worker ratio (±SD) of colonies set up with a single royal pair and with multiple males/females. Ratio 1 female:1 male (black bars) versus ratio x males:x females (striped bars): P > 0.05 in each age class (Mann–Whitney U test). No statistical analysis was performed for 48-mo-old colonies (n = 2). No colonies were available with multiple males/females at 36 mo of age

Fig. 2. Worker biomass (mean ± SD, log-transformed ordinate scale) of colonies set up with one, two, three, or four females in each age class (P > 0.05 n.s.; *P ≤ 0.05; Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA). All control groups contained one male/one female. The remaining categories (1–4 females) were initiated with more than one male and the appropriate number of females. The number of colonies censused in each age class and set up are mentioned in the text. No statistical analysis was performed for 48-mo-old colonies (n = 2). No colonies were available with multiple males/females at 36 mo of age

Fig. 3. Changes in (A) queen weight (mean ± SD) and (B) eggs per day by census date. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences (P ≤ 0.05; Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA)

table

Table 1. Number of workers found in published studies on laboratory colony growth in the family Rhinotermitidae

table

Table 2. Range of offspring censused from R. flavipes laboratory colonies destructively sampled by caste for each age class for both monogyne (A) and polygyne (B) setups as well as the combined data

table

Table 3. Survivorship of the primary reproductive caste from colonies initiated by multiple males/multiple females by colony and age class

table

Table 4. Results from the simulation model of termite colony growth assuming a monogyne colony by using the mean egg laying rates obtained from laboratory colonies in this study and hypothetical egg laying rates

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