Abstract
A statistical analysis of the population of the tropical mound building termite,Odontotermes redemanni, shows the existence of significant peaks in the populations of worker, soldier and nymphs in different phases during June to September. The population trends of the sexual nymphs and others show a close parallelism and this associationship is quite significant from a biological point of view. The population structure within the mounds is intimately associated with the multiplicative phase of the mounds and the peak in the overall population mostly occurs when sexual nymphs are produced in large numbers. These sexual nymphs develop into alates and fly out to establish new colonies. The ability of the de-alate sexuals in the mounds to produce the sexual nymphs and other castes in large numbers during the multiplicative phase of the mounds is probably genetically determined. Various statistical tests have been tried to interpret the biological factors associated with the population dynamics of this termite.
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Banerjee, B. A statistical study of the population of the tropical mound building termiteOdontotermes redemanni (Wasmann). Ins. Soc 13, 29–37 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02224635
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02224635