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1 October 2013 Colony Breeding Structure of the Invasive Termite Reticulitermes urbis (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)
Elfie Perdereau, Alessandro Velonà, Simon Dupont, Marjorie Labédan, Andrea Luchetti, Barbara Mantovani, Anne-Genevieve Bagnères
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Abstract

Invasive species cause severe environmental and economic problems. The invasive success of social insects often appears to be related to their ability to adjust their social organization to new environments. To gain a better understanding of the biology of invasive termites, this study investigated the social organization of the subterranean termite, Reticulitermes urbis, analyzing the breeding structure and the number of reproductives within colonies from three introduced populations. By using eight microsatellite loci to determine the genetic structure, it was found that all the colonies from the three populations were headed by both primary reproductives (kings and queens) and secondary reproductives (neotenics) to form extended-family colonies. R. urbis appears to be the only Reticulitermes species with a social organization based solely on extended-families in both native and introduced populations, suggesting that there is no change in their social organization on introduction. F-statistics indicated that there were few neotenics within the colonies from urban areas, which did not agree with results from previous studies and field observations. This suggests that although several neotenics may be produced, only few become active reproductives. The results also imply that the invasive success of R. urbis may be based on different reproductive strategies in urban and semiurbanized areas. The factors influencing an individual to differentiate into a neotenic in Reticulitermes species are discussed.

© 2013 Entomological Society of America
Elfie Perdereau, Alessandro Velonà, Simon Dupont, Marjorie Labédan, Andrea Luchetti, Barbara Mantovani, and Anne-Genevieve Bagnères "Colony Breeding Structure of the Invasive Termite Reticulitermes urbis (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)," Journal of Economic Entomology 106(5), 2216-2224, (1 October 2013). https://doi.org/10.1603/EC13157
Received: 2 April 2013; Accepted: 6 June 2013; Published: 1 October 2013
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KEYWORDS
breeding system
invasive species
neoteny
termite
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