April 2010 / Vol.7 / Issue 4

Hello and Welcome to the April Greenpest News. Each month we aim to provide you with some useful information, keeping it short sweet and pertinent.

Contents

1. Pest Talk - Amazing Termites
2. Monthly Special.
3. Back Issues.

Pest Talk

It has been a longstanding and reasonably common belief within the termite management industry that if worker or soldier termites are separated from the main colony, they will eventually die.  The reason for this is that these termites need to return to the nest to be fed and groomed by specialised workers assigned to that task.  Surprisingly, the workers that are chewing off the timber (in a home) and the soldiers that are protecting them cannot feed themselves. 

Termites have a unique digestive process involving specialised protozoa and specialized anaerobic bacteria found only in the gut of termites that convert the cellulose from the wood that termites chew into suitable food resources to feed the colony.  Anaerobic doesn’t mean that the bacteria are lazy and don’t like doing aerobics (like me); it simply means that they can live in an environment without oxygen.  However there is nothing simple about that, because the billions of other bacteria that share our planet will die without oxygen, so this makes these particular bacteria very special indeed.  There are several different type of symbiotic bacteria at work breaking down the cellulose and they are found nowhere else other than inside a termite’s gut.  Termites can’t live without them and they can’t live without termites.

Termites are described as belonging to either a ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ group and it is the termites in the lower group (the more primitive termite) that can do the most damage.  This is because they have a combination of protozoa and bacteria in their gut which facilitates faster digestion and conversion of cellulose to nutrients that can feed the colony.  The primitive one celled protozoa also release enzymes as do the bacteria that assist with the breakdown of cellulose.  It might interest you to know that these enzymes act like acetate.  Thirty million year old fossilised records from the prehistoric era show that one of the most primitive and possibly the most destructive termite species is found right here in Australia.  They’re called Mastotermes darwiniensis and they are found in northern Australia, mainly north of the Tropic of Capricorn.  Interesting enough, this giant termite has no less than four distinct species of protozoa in its gut compared to only two species of protozoa found in the gut of other high risk termites in the lower group such as Coptotermes Acinaciformis and Schedorhinotermes spp. which are found throughout mainland Australia and account for millions of dollars worth of damage to homes nationwide every year.

As for termites in the higher group, they usually have no protozoa, only the bacteria, so digestion is slower because they don’t have as many beneficial enzymes produced by the protozoa and bacteria found in the lower group.  The consequence of this is that it takes them longer to consume a food source, i.e. damage your home, and as a result termites in the higher group are rarely considered species of economic significance to man.

The termites gut is best described as a ‘living soup’ and it is packed with millions of protozoa and bacteria.  For the lower species of termite, the bacteria that break down the cellulose are actually found inside the gut of the protozoa.  It’s hard to imagine (unless you have read or seen Dr Seuss’s ‘Horton Hears a Who’) but there is a world of bacteria inside the protozoa’s gut, and a world of protozoa inside a termite’s gut, and a world of termites inside a termite nest, and millions of termite nests on this world we share.

Here we are, mankind, a speck on this planet we named Earth.  Astronomers tell us that the Earth is just a speck in the Universe, and historians tell us our human lifespan is but just a blink in the great span of galactic time.  I digress, but depending on your mood and beliefs, you may reflect on the enormity of the universe and find solace from minutia of daily worries, or perhaps one may reflect on the pointlessness of life, or the opposite and find motivation to make every moment count.  This is certainly the niche that religion and philosophy fill, putting meaning to a life.

At least we are not mindless automatons like termites, which nicely brings us back to our opening sentence which I will repeat here for convenience; It has been a longstanding and reasonably common belief within the termite management industry that if worker or soldier termites are separated from the main colony, they will eventually die. 

Au contraire!  There is clear evidence which demonstrates that under certain circumstances, these termites can not only survive when separated from the nest, but they can actually thrive and become a whole new colony. 

So how can they do this without a Queen to lay new eggs and a King to fertilise them?  Once again the answer is truly amazing and it is worth understanding because it sheds light on why some termite treatments fail and why sometimes termites return again and again to the scene of the crime months later when it at first appeared that they were eradicated.

There are thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of worker termites in a typical termite colony and although the workers look the same, there are many specialisations amongst them.  How they decide who does what is not just interesting, it’s downright amazing.  The Queen lays eggs and these eggs are all the same.  In other words, she does not lay soldier eggs or worker eggs or alate eggs separately.

The eggs are all the same and what they become depends on the needs of the colony.  At first the eggs hatch as a nymph (mini-termite) which metamorphoses over a period of months by moulting and based on the needs of the colony, its fate is decided after the last instar (moult).  If the colony needs more soldiers, then it is thought that hormones or perhaps pheromones are released (probably by the Queen but possibly by workers tending the nymphs) that ensure the eggs develop along the soldier path.  Once a soldier… always a soldier.

On the other hand, workers have the ability to change later in life.  Workers can not only change jobs, but they can even change casts.

Termite casts are:

• Reproductives:
  • King (male reproductive)
  • Queen (female reproductive)
  • And alates (known as winged reproductives)
• Soldiers
• Workers

The best way to follow this is to trace the life of an imaginary worker termite that we’ll name 'Termie' for convenience.    He/she is sexless being neither male nor female.  But for convenience we will call Termie a male.  He has completed its final instar. Termie is keen to work and since he has nice sharp mandibles the first job allocated to Termie is out in the field chewing off little balls of timber from one of the colony’s current feeding sites.  He stacks the balls up behind him for other termites to collect and transport back to the nest.  When Termie’s energy gets low he too picks up a ball and returns to the nest carrying the little ball of timber in his gut which he passes on to another worker termite back at the nest.  Whilst there he is groomed and cleaned of contaminants by another specialised worker delegated for this task.  Then he is fed by yet another worker via trophallaxis.  This worker is moving about the colony feeding all those in need of food.  Trophallaxis is the regurgitation of nutrients that the termites can use for food since wood alone is of no value until the little bacteria and protozoa (mentioned earlier) have done their part.

Termie returns to the feeding site and continues to chew off timber while his mandibles are sharp.  At some point in time, they are no longer sharp enough to do the job and Termie is replaced by fresh recruits.  Unfortunately for Termie there is no retirement plan.  He now takes up a new position, once again determined by the needs of the colony.

He might be a truck driver, carrying the balls of timber back and forth from the feeding site to the nest, or he might work for meals on wheels / legs.  If he becomes a feeder, then he might work by feeding the other workers or he might work in the nursery and feed the nymphs.  Nymphs are immature termites that have not yet reached their final instar (moult).  Now the nymphs are like human teenagers, they contribute nothing to assist the colony at all.  Nymphs just move around, make a mess and demand food.

Now if nothing more happens in Termie’s life he may eventually die of old age.  He is literally worn out.  Termites are necrophagous (which means they eat their dead) so even in death, Termie is benefiting the colony.  The protozoa and bacteria in Termie’s gut are passed on to other termites and life goes on.  Termites even cannibalise other live termites that are not performing due to injury or natural birth defects.  In fact when the Queen isn’t performing they even cannibalise her.  There is no waste in a termite colony, even their frass (poo) is used to build the walls that line their tunnels and makes their mound.

It is thought that while the Queen is alive, she is producing a suppressing hormone / pheromone that stops the development of any other Queens in the colony.  However, when the colony gets very large, she can’t produce enough eggs to meet demand, so new neophytic Queens are allowed to develop that help by laying additional eggs.  Whether they develop because the nursery is far enough away from the main Queen so as to not be influenced by her suppression, or because she is stimulated by the workers to stop suppression for a while, is not fully understood.

Termites are a social insect and the colony is kept in balance at all times – workers, soldiers, and job definitions are in harmony for the maximum benefit of all.  These perfect little communists seem to share one mind and how this harmony and balance is achieved still astounds and baffles scientists to this day.

So, as you can see, Termie was a worker and he changed jobs as necessitated by the colony.  But it could have been different.  Worker termites can also change cast.  After starting out as a worker, Termie might have undergone a further metamorphosis and become a soldier or an alate* or even a neophytic Queen if need be and conditions were suitable for the change to occur.

This rather remarkable discovery was made by scientists who collected termites in a piece of wood in the wild and brought them back to the lab, placing the wood in soil and keeping it at the right temperature with just the right amount of moisture to sustain them.  There was no Queen in the wood, so not much happens at first, but after several months the colony begins to grow and thrive due to the development of a neophytic Queen.  This is very useful for the scientists as it makes the study of termites so much easier than if they have to find and relocate a nest with a live Queen.

*For those of you who are new to our newsletters, alates are winged termites that emerge from the nest on hot humid summer evenings.  They fly in swarms away from the nest in search of new food sources but 99.9% of them never make it.  Those that do, pair off as King and Queen, lose their wings and begin a new termite colony from scratch.  This Queen is a primary Queen.  On the other hand a neophytic Queen never faces the ordeal of flight.  She has wing buds only, but she can lay eggs just as efficiently as the natural Queen.

Sometimes neophytic Queens share the same chamber as the primary Queen and sometimes they become established in a new site where a sub-nest soon develops.  If the main nest is destroyed by a pest control company, it is possible that the sub-nest might very well survive.  For a sub-nest to survive it simply needs food and water.

If active termites are in a house and treated by use of a chemical treatment zone only, especially a repellent zone, then some live termites might become trapped in the house.  It was thought that these termites would eventually die (from exhaustion – it might take months) and the reason was as stated at the beginning – it was thought that they must return to the nest for care and attention.

But if there is a suitable source of food and water in the house or under the house (especially a waffle pod slab), then it is possible that the trapped termites could establish themselves as a new colony within the house without any contact with the ground or the parent nest.  You can’t do anything about the food source – that’s the whole house.  But where is the water source?  In most cases it is the shower area.  The vast majority of showers leak – even in brand new homes!

Most pest controllers carry a moisture meter that detects moisture through walls and tiles.  Nine times out of ten we detect high levels of moisture through the tiles in bathroom showers.  It should be no surprise that many termite nests found in homes are located in behind showers, which by the way, is usually the most difficult place to access.

Tip: When a termite inspection report advises you that there is high moisture readings behind the shower tiles, don’t ignore it – seek professional help to seal the shower.

Tip: Not all companies that seal showers do a good job.  Shop around and choose carefully. 

Tip: Why not ask your pestie to run his moisture meter over your shower area during a regular pest control service.  Most technicians will be happy to take a couple of minutes and do this for you for free.

We hope that the above information helps to explain why termite control is imperfect.  Termite technicians can sometimes do everything possible, or more correctly everything possible with-in a customer’s budget and it can appear that the termites are no longer active, then months later they can reappear.

It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.  In the case of a large termite colony established under a waffle pod home, it is possible for the termites to take a hit from a limited application of a dust such as Termidor Dust® which will all but wipe them out, yet the survivors may be able to gather forces and start again.  The reason the dust application is limited is because there may not be enough useful termite points for the technician to work with in the first place.  There is no defence for technicians that do poor quality work, but in some cases the best technician can do the best job possible with limited access to the termites and still fail.  It can take several treatments to fix some termite problems and that is all there is to it.

In some cases people blame the poor technician who is doing his very best to solve the problem, but they give no thought to the inadequate building practices that enabled the problem in the first place.

Once again we encourage all home owners to have their homes checked for termites at least once a year.

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The Greenpest News is Published by J & A Furnell Nominees P/L; Shop 23a Franklin Square, 60 Railway Street, Mudgeeraba, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of Jerry Furnell. The reader is encouraged to seek further information from appropriate government and statutory departments before taking any action based on this material alone.

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Always... At your service,

Jerry Furnell
Green Pest Control & Green Termite Bait Systems.
Phone 1800 6 12345.

Copyright 2010 Green Termite Bait Systems & Green Pest Control. All rights reserved.

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