Abstract—South of China is always invaded by Odontotermes formosanus Shiraki. In this paper Polyethism of foragers in O.formosanus Shiraki have been investigated. Foragers of Thirty nests in Nanjing Forestry University have been studied, 4782 workers and soldiers captured. We realize that workers with head width of medium (MW) are the main foragers. According to frequency of head width and resulted peaks, foragers have been divided into Very small workers (VSW), Small Workers (SW), Medium Workers (MW), Large Workers (LW), and Very Large Workers (VLW). Studying each nest separately showed that all the above groups are not available in foraging behavior of one nest. We found three groups of soldiers among foragers, Small Soldiers (SS), Medium Soldiers (MS), and Large Soldiers (LS). In this case, MS were the main groups of soldiers. In addition, foraging polyethism in different tree species has been investigated Cinnamonum camphora was the main target for this species. At the end it became obvious that however some of other groups taking part in foraging in different nests, but workers and soldiers with medium head width have a key role in foraging behavior by this kind of termite.

Index Terms—termite, isoptera, odontotermes formosanus shiraki, size polyethism, foragers

Cite: E. Soleymaninejadian, B. Z. Ji, S. W. Liu, J. J. Yang, and X. W. Zhang, "Foraging Polyethism in Odontotermes Formosanus Shiraki," Journal of Advanced Agricultural Technologies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 32-42, June 2014. Doi: 10.12720/joaat.1.1.32-42