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Interspecific Trail-Following and Evidence of Similarity of Trails of Trinervitermes Species from Different Habitats

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Abstract

In choice tests with well-established natural trails and glandular extract trails, allopatric populations of Trinervitermes bettonianus Sjöst followed alien colonies’ trails with the same degree of motivation as their own trails. The five Trinervitermes spp. tested readily followed each other’s trail. Chromatographs of natural trail extracts showed that the main component of the T. bettonianus trail pheromone also occurs in trails of T. gratiosus (and presumably in the other species); this would account for the observed cross-following of trails among these species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya

    G. W. Oloo & P. G. McDowell

Authors
  1. G. W. Oloo
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  2. P. G. McDowell
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Oloo, G.W., McDowell, P.G. Interspecific Trail-Following and Evidence of Similarity of Trails of Trinervitermes Species from Different Habitats. Int J Trop Insect Sci 3, 157–161 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742758400005750

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742758400005750

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