SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN TERMITE for graduate studentsS.pptx

Social organization in insects

1. Social Organization Termites ( White Ants )

2. CLASSIFICATION Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Isoptera Genus: Termite

3. TERMITE COLONY (CASTE DIFFERENTIATION) Termites dislike daylight. Some species live in tunnels excavated in wooden structures. Other live in nests called termitaria . Termitarium : It consists of a network of irregular galleries and chambers. it is built of sand grains glued together by saliva or faeces.

4. Polymorphism and Social Life Society has several castes, which are of two main type: Fertile Large winged forms Short Winged forms Wingless forms 2. Sterile Workers Soldiers Nasutes

5. Fertile Castes Large winged forms : These are the king and Queen (royal Couple). have a chitinized body of yellow, brown or black colour. Wings extends far behind the body. Short Winged forms: These are supplementary kings and Queens. They have less chitinized body ans Pale-yellow colour. Wings are short and vestigial. Wingless forms: These are rare and exist only in primitive species

6. Sterile Castes: they are wingless, eyeless and colourless. Sex organs are rudimentary. Workers: The most numerous of all castes. Dimorphic(small and large) They construct nest, collect and distribute food, look after eggs and feed the nymph, soldiers and royal couple. Some cultivate fungal garden Soldiers: They are slightly larger than workers. They have a large sclerotized head with huge, serrated mandibles. They are also polymorphic like workers. They defend the colony Nasutes : T hey have vestigial mandibles. They possesses large head prolonged into rostrum, which bears frontal glands. The secretion of these glands helps to kill the invader, dissolve hard substances. They are also polymorphic.

7. WORKER SOLDIER NASUTES

8. FEEDING It commonly feed on living as well as dead plant material Trichomympha (Protozoan in its intestine) for the digestion of cellulose. They can have fungi and their dead fellows. SWARMING In the rainy season true kings and queens are produced in large number. They leave the termitarium and fly away to new sites. This dispersal flight is called swarming.

9. Founding New Colonies At new sites a Queen and a king mate and shed their wings. Dig out a burrow and start a new colony. Queen lay eggs and hatched into workers soon they take up their duties. The king live with queen and they mate at regular intervals.

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