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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1991 Mar 1;88(5):2031–2034. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.5.2031

Nest-mate recognition based on heritable odors in the termite Microcerotermes arboreus.

E S Adams 1
PMCID: PMC51160  PMID: 11607159

Abstract

Workers of the Neotropical termite Microcerotermes arboreus distinguish nest mates from other conspecifics by odor. A controlled breeding experiment demonstrated a genetic component to variation in colony odors. Workers were less aggressive toward unfamiliar relatives than toward nonrelatives and distinguished degree of relatedness among unfamiliar workers. Unfamiliar relatives were attacked more often than nest mates, despite similar levels of genetic relatedness; thus, nest-mate recognition is not based solely upon heritable characteristics of individual workers. No difference was detected between the effects of cues inherited through the mother and cues inherited through the father.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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