Observations on some bio-ecological attributes of cryptic one-piece wood-feeding termites (Blattodea, Isoptera) in...

Termites are eusocial insects that live in large or small colonies. The one-piece wood-feeding termites in Himachal Pradesh are represented by three species, i.e., Archotermopsis wroughtoni, Neotermes bosei and Stylotermes faveolus. In Himachal Pradesh, the distribution of A. wroughtoni was observed from 31.13 to 32.70 °N and 76.04 to 78.25 °E, with an altitudinal range from 1429.02 to 2841.23 m above mean sea level covering three distinct ecological zones. The distribution of N. bosei was observed in foothills of Dhauladhar range, from Palampur to Joginder Nagar, however, S. faveolus was exclusively recorded along the banks of Beas river in Kullu valley. Location-specific morphometric details provide insights on ecological variation in species morphology. The swarming of alates was observed during July and August in A. wroughtoni, and between May and July in N. bosei, during nocturnal hours post 20:00 h. The flight activity in N. bosei revealed a significant [p (uncorrected) < 0.05] positive correlation between maximum temperature (r = 0.41; p = 0.003), minimum temperature (r = 0.44; p = 0.001) and evaporation (r = 0.36; p = 0.009). The data on colony size indicated that A. wroughtoni exhibits variation in size of colonies. In large wooden logs, colony populations were observed ranging approximately between 250 and 1050 individuals; however, in small tree stumps, colonies contained fewer than 100 individuals. The two observed colonies of S. faveolus nesting in tree trunks have a colony size of approximately 1500 individuals. The study provides a deeper insight into the bio-ecology of these termites in this region.