Universidade Federal de Viçosa - UFV, Departamento de Entomologia, Laboratório de Termitologia, Viçosa, MG, Brasil.
Universidade Federal de Viçosa - UFV, Departamento de Solos, Viçosa, MG, Brasil.
Braz J Biol. 2021 Nov 1;83:e03316. doi: 10.1590/1519-6984.03316. eCollection 2021.
Behavioral lab bioassays involving termites must be promptly performed to allow intended observations prior to death from dissecation, typical of these soft-bodied insects. To this end, topic markers have been proposed as an alternative to histological stains which, while not always toxic are inevitably lengthy to apply. Among recommended topic markers, gouache is easy to apply, dries out quickly, but it is known affect termites in the long run, being suitable only to short-term bioassays. Its alternative, colored glue, is also easy to apply, but it takes long to dry and it is too dense and heavy, being thus prone to affect termite walking patterns. Here we tested a mix of gouache and colored glue aiming to combine the qualities of both into a suitable topical marker for Cornitermes cumulans termites. Similar patterns of survival presented by marked and unmarked termites ruled out concerns about toxicity of this mixture. Such results were consistent across distinct group densities evidencing that the mixture does not interfere with, nor it is affected by, crowding effects. Because crowding regulates interindividual interactions and these underlie most behaviors, the mixture can be thought to be suitable to behavioral studies. We argue that this 1:2 glue:gouache mixture is an excellent alternative to mark termites for lab bioassays. Being atoxic, cheap, easy to apply, and non-invasive, this mixture may happen to be useful not only for termites but also in bioassaying other similarly soft-bodied insects.
涉及白蚁的行为学实验室生物测定必须及时进行，以便在解剖导致死亡之前进行预期的观察，这是这些软体昆虫的典型特征。为此，已经提出了主题标记作为组织学染色的替代方法，虽然组织学染色并不总是有毒，但应用起来不可避免地很耗时。在推荐的主题标记中，油画颜料易于应用，干燥迅速，但已知它会长期影响白蚁，只适合短期生物测定。其替代品，彩色胶，也很容易应用，但需要很长时间才能干燥，而且过于密集和沉重，因此容易影响白蚁的行走模式。在这里，我们测试了油画颜料和彩色胶的混合物，旨在将两者的特性结合到一种适合 Cornitermes cumulans 白蚁的局部标记物中。有标记和无标记的白蚁的相似存活率表明，这种混合物没有毒性问题。这些结果在不同的群体密度下都一致，证明该混合物不会干扰或受到拥挤效应的影响。因为拥挤调节个体间的相互作用，而这些相互作用是大多数行为的基础，所以可以认为该混合物适合行为研究。我们认为，这种 1:2 的胶：油画颜料混合物是标记白蚁进行实验室生物测定的绝佳选择。这种混合物无毒、廉价、易于应用且非侵入性，不仅对白蚁，而且对其他类似软体昆虫的生物测定也可能非常有用。
