2013/04/18 by Qian Sun, Kenneth F. Haynes, Xuguo Zhou · 42 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Plant and animal studies #Insect and Pesticide Research #Reticulitermes #Interspecific competition #Biology #Ecology #Competition (biology) #Zoology #Rhinotermitidae
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/srep01650
published in Scientific Reports 3(1), 1650 (Nature Portfolio)
openalex publication_date 2013/04/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Undertaking behaviour is an essential activity in social insects. Corpses are often recognized by a postmortem change in a chemical signature. Reticulitermes flavipes responded to corpses within minutes of death. This undertaking behaviour did not change with longer postmortem time (24 h); however, R. flavipes exhibited distinctively different behaviours toward dead termites from various origins. Corpses of the congeneric species, Reticulitermes virginicus, were buried onsite by workers with a large group of soldiers guarding the burial site due to the risk of interspecific competition; while dead conspecifics, regardless of colony origin, were pulled back into the holding chamber for nutrient recycling and hygienic purposes. The burial task associated with congeneric corpses was coupled with colony defence and involved ten times more termites than retrieval of conspecific corpses. Our findings suggest elicitation of undertaking behaviour depends on the origin of corpses which is associated with different types of risk.