Evans T A
CSIRO Entomology, Canberra ACT, 2601, Australia.
Bull Entomol Res. 2002 Jun;92(3):193-201. doi: 10.1079/BER2002157.
The movement of foragers of two species of Australian, subterranean, mound-building termites, Coptotermes lacteus (Froggatt) (Rhinotermitidae) and Nasutitermes exitiosus (Hill) (Termitidae), was investigated in their natural habitat using artificial feeding sites along trenches dug to mimic natural forager tunnels that radiate out from the central mound-nests. Termites were dyed by self-feeding on cardboard soaked with histological fat-stains on one or two trenches and then termites were collected from other feeding sites at two and four weeks after the fat-stains were placed. At two and four weeks after marking commenced, 60-75% of marked termites were found in trenches containing the marked paper, and 2-16% were found in trenches on the opposite side of the nest. The proportion of marked termites in a sample was three to eight times greater in the trenches containing the marked paper relative to other trenches. Although difficulties with fat-stains used as markers might explain some of the observed patterns, it is evident that C. lacteus and N. exitiosus foragers do not move randomly between feeding sites in their natural habitat.
利用沿着挖掘的沟渠设置的人工喂食点，在澳大利亚两种地下筑丘白蚁的自然栖息地中，对乳白蚁（Coptotermes lacteus (Froggatt)，鼻白蚁科）和澳洲大白蚁（Nasutitermes exitiosus (Hill)，白蚁科）觅食者的活动进行了调查。这些沟渠是为了模拟从中央蚁巢向外辐射的自然觅食者隧道而挖掘的。通过让白蚁在一两条沟渠中自食浸泡有组织学脂肪染色剂的纸板对白蚁进行染色，然后在放置脂肪染色剂后的两周和四周，从其他喂食点收集白蚁。在标记开始后的两周和四周，60% - 75%的标记白蚁在含有标记纸的沟渠中被发现，2% - 16%在蚁巢另一侧的沟渠中被发现。相对于其他沟渠，含有标记纸的沟渠中样本中标记白蚁的比例要大三到八倍。尽管用作标记的脂肪染色剂存在的问题可能解释了一些观察到的模式，但很明显，乳白蚁和澳洲大白蚁觅食者在其自然栖息地的喂食点之间并非随机移动。
