Tunnel orientation by workers of Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) subjected to unilateral antennal ablation

Abstract

Subterranean termites subjected to unilateral antennectomy do not produce tunnels that differ in orientation from unaltered termites. Local cues at the tunnel tip may be weak releasers of excavation behavior in comparison to the motivation to tunnel away from the tunnels origin. Alternately antennae may be important in determining where a termite excavates, but termites may be compensating for the loss of an antenna through changes in behavior.