Survivorship and Walking Behavior of Inquilinitermes microcerus (Termitidae: Termitinae) in contact with host workers and walls from host nest

Abstract

Constrictotermes sp. nests are frequently inhabited by colonies of Inquilinitermes microcerus. In this association, I. microcerus colonies usually establish their colonies spatially isolated from Constrictotermes colonies. Here, we investigated whether the apparent spatial isolation of I. microcerus colonies in Constrictotermes nests should be related to their needs (e.g. feeding) in relation to the central part of the nest or to a possible stress provoked by the presence of the host. For this, survival and walking behavior bioassays were performed to test the hypothesis that the survivorship of inquilines is: (i) reduced in the presence of host, mainly of those from different nests, (ii) increased in contact with inner walls compared with external walls; and that the distance walked and walking velocity of inquiline is: (iii) increased in the presence of the host and (iv) reduced in contact with the internal walls compared with external walls of host nest. The mean time to death of inquiline workers is lower in contact with host (independently from the same or different nest) compared with control and the mean time to death of inquiline workers is lower in contact with external walls of host nest compared with control group and the inner walls. The distance walked and walking velocity of inquiline workers in contact with their hosts (from the same or different nest) did not differ from control, however, these parameters were reduced when workers were in contact with inner and external walls compared with control. In general, our results showed that I. microcerus adopt behavioral strategies to avoid perception by its host.