Termites eavesdrop on competitors to survive
(PhysOrg.com) -- The drywood termite, Cryptotermes secundus, eavesdrops on its more aggressive subterranean competitor, Coptotermes acinaciformis, to avoid contact with it, according to scientists from...
View ArticleCritter control, au natural
(PhysOrg.com) -- It’s surprising how much havoc the tiny termite can wreak. Each year infestations of these insects cause an estimated $30 billion in damage to buildings and crops nationwide....
View ArticleHomebound Termites Answer 150-Year-Old Evolution Question
(PhysOrg.com) -- Staying at home may have given the very first termite youngsters the best opportunity to rule the colony when their parents were killed by their neighbors. This is according to new...
View ArticleTermites travel with fungi as take-away food
Fungi travelled to Madagascar in the intestines of termites. Fungus serves as a source of food and helps in cellulose conversion.
View ArticleGiving cockroaches the slip (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- A breakthrough by scientists at Cambridge University may terminate the threat of termites, cockroaches and other pests such as ants and locusts - responsible for billions of pounds...
View ArticleTermites? gut reactions show how to improve renewable fuel, researchers say
(PhysOrg.com) -- Termite damage costs the U.S. more than $1 billion each year, but that same destructive power might help solve one of the nation’s most pressing economic quandaries: sustainable fuel...
View ArticleTermite creates sustainable monoculture fungus-farming
(PhysOrg.com) -- Food production of modern human societies is mostly based on large-scale monoculture crops, but it now appears that advanced insect societies have the same practice. Our societies took...
View ArticleBacterial gut symbionts are tightly linked with the evolution of herbivory in...
Broadly speaking, ants have two different feeding strategies. A large proportion of all species are "carnivorous," meaning that they are generalist predators feeding on other small animals or...
View ArticleNew assay helps track termites and other insects
An Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-developed method to safely and reliably mark termites and other insects over vast acreage so their movements can be tracked is just as effective as the previous...
View ArticleLowly termite, not the lion or elephant, may be the star of Africa's savanna
The majestic animals most closely associated with the African savanna -- fierce lions, massive elephants, towering giraffes - may be relatively minor players when it comes to shaping the ecosystem.
View ArticleInsect research gives humans six legs up
(PhysOrg.com) -- You could say that Bert Hölldobler's career began during a childhood walk in the Bavarian woods with his father. The elder Holldobler turned over a rock out in the forest, exposing a...
View ArticleResearchers Find 'Key Ingredient' That Regulates Termite Caste System
(PhysOrg.com) -- A North Carolina State University entomologist has for the first time shown which specific chemicals are used by some termite queens to prevent other termites in the colony from...
View ArticleIt Takes 'Guts' to Explore the Next Proteomics Frontier
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the quest to find new sources of biofuel, researchers are studying one of the most efficient bioreactors on earth: the termite. The same insect that causes distress to homeowners...
View ArticleTermites foretell climate change in Africa's savannas
Using sophisticated airborne imaging and structural analysis, scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology mapped more than 40,000 termite mounds over 192 square miles in the...
View ArticleUseful lessons in ventilation provided by insects' mounds
While some power companies scour the globe for steady winds to drive giant turbines, a biologist is turning to lowly termites and their lofty mounds to understand how to harness far more common...
View ArticleAnts, termites boost wheat yields
(PhysOrg.com) -- In an exciting experiment with major implications for food production under climate change, CSIRO and University of Sydney scientists have found allowing ants and termites to flourish...
View ArticleTermites' digestive system could act as biofuel refinery
One of the peskiest household pests, while disastrous to homes, could prove to be a boon for cars, according to a Purdue University study.
View ArticleMandrill monkey creates tool for a pedicure (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- In a recent paper published in Behavioural Processes, scientists reveal a film of a mandrill monkey creating a tool from a stick in order to remove dirt from underneath its toenails....
View ArticleCells die so defensive organs can live
Researchers demonstrate for the first time that programmed cell death - a process by which cells deliberately destroy themselves - is involved in mandibular regression in termites. And it appears this...
View ArticleWorker ants paralyze and kill termites from afar
Worker ants from a particular species of African ants have potent venom that can paralyze and kill termites from a distance, according to a study published Dec. 14 in the online journal PLoS ONE.
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