Email this article 
Lab studies on trail following behavior of the termite Hypotermes obscuriceps towards 2-Phenoxyethanol
Abstract
Hypotermes obscuriceps is the most abundant of termite species found in North-eastern Puducherry. It has been seen to assimilate ligninous waste kept for degradation in the termireactors designed earlier by the authors by the process of termigradation. Termigradation is a termite-based biodegradation process and involves attracting termites towards the ligninous waste in specially designed reactors. Such reactors are kept in pits or aboveground near termite mounds. In order to increase the number of termites that will move towards the feed kept in such termireactors, 2-Phenoxyethanol (2-PE) was explored in the laboratory for making trails that may attract H. obscuriceps. Five different concentrations of 2-PE, ranging from 0.1 to 0.0005% were explored and in controlled experiments, the numbers of termites that followed the trails made by these levels of 2-PE as a function of time were determined. It was seen that all the trails that contained 2-PE attracted H. obscuriceps and none was toxic to termites for the first 60 minutes.
Keywords
References
Becker, G., Mannesmann, R., 2009. Untersuchungen über das Verhalten von Termiten gegenüber einigen spurbildenden Stoffen. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Entomologie 62, 399-436.
Bernklau, E.J., Fromm, E.A., Judd, T.M., Bjostad, L.B., 2005. Attraction of Subterranean Termites (Isoptera) to Carbon Dioxide. Journal of Economic Entomology 98, 476-484.
Birch, A.J., Chamberlain, K.B., Moore, B.P., Powell, V.H., 1970. Termite attractants in Santalum spicatum. Australian Journal of Chemistry 23, 2337.
Chen, J., Henderson, G., 1996. Determination of feeding preference of Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki) for some amino acid additives. Journal of Chemical Ecology 22, 2359-2369.
Chen, J., Henderson, G., Laine, R.A., 1998. Isolation and Identification of 2-Phenoxyethanol from a Ballpoint Pen Ink as a Trail-Following Substance of Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki and Reticulitermes sp. Journal of Entomological Science 33, 97-105.
Cornelius, M.L., Bland, J.M., Daigle, D.J., Williams, K.S., Lovisa, M.P., Connick, W.J., Lax, A.R., 2004. Effect of a Lignin-Degrading Fungus on Feeding Preferences of Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) for Different Commercial Lumber. Journal of Economic Entomology 97, 1025-1035.
Cornelius, M.L., Lax, A.R., 2005. Effect of Summon Preferred Food Source on Feeding, Tunneling, and Bait Station Discovery by the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 98, 502-508.
Cornelius, M.L., Lloyd, S.W., Lovisa, M.P., Williams, K.S., 2005. Presence of naphthalene detected in sawdust decayed by a lignin-degrading fungus and its effect on the feeding and trail-following behavior of the Formosan subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Sociobiology 46, 397-408.
Fei, H., Henderson, G., 2005. Repellency of Formosan subterranean termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) to dead termites and attraction to 2-phenoxyethanol with and without nonrepellent insecticides. Journal of Agricultural and Urban Entomology 22, 159-172.
Fei, H., Henderson, G., Fugler, A., Laine, R.A., 2005. Increased Search Tunnel Formation by Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in 2-Phenoxyethanol Treated Sand. Journal of Entomological Science 40, 327-336.
Fei, H., Henderson, G., Laine, R.A., 2005. Trail-following behavior of Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) on concentration gradients of 2-phenoxyethanol. Sociobiology 45, 2.
Galinis, D.L., Strnad, S.P., 2000. Methods and compositions for attracting and controlling termites. United States Patent, US6093389.
Grace, J.K., Wood, D.L., Kubo, I., Kim, M., 1995. Behavioural and chemical investigation of trail pheromone from the termiteReticulitermes hesperusBanks (Isopt., Rhinotermitidae). Journal of Applied Entomology 119, 501-505.
Henderson, G., Chen, J., Laine, R.A., 1999. Compositions and methods for detecting and killing termites. United State Patents, US5874097.
Ibrahim, S.A., Henderson, G., Fei, H., Laine, R.A., 2005. 2-Phenoxyethanol is a doubleedged sword against the Formosan subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Biopesticide International 1, 25-37.
LaPorte, G.M., Stephens, J.C., 2012. Analysis Techniques Used for the Forensic Examination of Writing and Printing Inks, Forensic Chemistry Handbook. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. 225-250.
LaPorte, G.M., Wilson, J.D., Cantu, A.A., Mancke, S.A., Fortunato, S.L., 2004. The Identification of 2-Phenoxyethanol in Ballpoint Inks Using Gas Chromatography/Mass SpectrometryRelevance to Ink Dating. Journal of Forensic Sciences 49, 1-5.
Peppuy, A., Robert, A., Semon, E., Ginies, C., Lettere, M., Bonnard, O., Bordereau, C., 2001. (Z)-dodec-3-en-1-ol, a novel termite trail pheromone identified after solid phase microextraction from Macrotermes annandalei. Journal of Insect Physiology 47, 445-453.
Prestwich, G.D., Eng, W.S., Deaton, E., Wichern, D., 1984. Structure-activity relationships among aromatic analogs of trail-following pheromone of subterranean termites. Journal of Chemical Ecology 10, 1201-1217.
Rust, M.K., Haagsma, K., Nyugen, J., 1996. Enhancing foraging of western subterranean termites(Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in arid environments. Sociobiology 28, 275-286.
Waller, D.A., Morlino, S.E., Matkins, N., 1999. Factors affecting termite recruitment to baits in laboratory and field studies, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Urban Pests, pp. 597-600.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33687/entomol.006.02.2315
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2018 International Journal of Entomological Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
International Journal of Entomological Research
ISSN: 2310-3906 (Online), 2310-5119 (Print).
© EScience Press. All Rights Reserved.