Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 102, Issue 10, Pages 3732-3737Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0408649102
Keywords
foraging; vibroacoustic; communication; social insects
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Contrary to the common perception that termites are indiscriminant eaters, termites choose their food carefully; however, the methods by which they choose food are not well understood. Using choice experiments and recordings of termites feeding on wooden blocks of different sizes, we show that worker drywood termites (Cryptotermes domesticus) use the resonant frequency of a block of wood to assess its size. Drywood termites showed differences in their response to vibration recordings of termites compared with artificially generated signals, suggesting that they can discriminate the source of vibration. Furthermore, fewer workers matured into neotenic reproductives when recorded termite signals were played, suggesting that vibration signals play an important role in termite communication.
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