Behavioral Ecology of Subterranean Termites and Implications

Abstract: Subterranean termites are important structural pests in much of North America, and worldwide. Recent studies of eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes [Kollar]) colonies in Ontario, Canada, indicate that these colonies contain greater foraging populations and forage over larger territories than was previously thought to be the case. These results are consistent with those obtained elsewhere with Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki and Heterotermes aureus (Snyder). Implications for the development of baiting techniques for termite control are discussed, and several laboratory investigations of potential bait toxicants and insecticidal dusts are reviewed. Behavioral chemicals are also potentially useful in termite control, and bioassays with tree extractives indicate that semiochemicals affecting termite orientation offer an explanation for the observed pattern of R. flavipes infestation in street trees in Toronto. The eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes [Kollar]) (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) has a broad distribution in North America, extending from the southeastern United States to the Great Lakes (Weesner 1970). At the northern edge of this distribution, R. flavipes was first reported at Point Pelee, Ontario, in 1929, and was apparently introduced to Toronto in infested materials brought by ship from the Unite