Newswise — GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Imagine mom and dad already have five children and are too busy, or lack the financial resources to raise more children. Sometimes, older siblings must assume some parental duties. That’s also what happens with some subterranean termites, and it results in millions of termites surviving and eating your property, according to University of Florida scientists.

As it stands, subterranean termites are among the most damaging termites in the world, and represent a significant part of the $40 billion annual cost in damages caused by insects worldwide, said Thomas Chouvenc, a research scientist in entomology and co-author of a new study about young termites that are raised by their older siblings.

“Now that we know that brood care by siblings is so important, we can look at ways to disrupt this behavior to eliminate colonies,” said Chouvenc, who wrote the paper with UF/IFAS entomology Professor Nan-Yao Su, inventor of Sentricon®, a termite-baiting system. “In fact, the baiting technology invented by Dr. Su indirectly does this: It kills active workers and reduces the brood care, resulting in rapid brood death.”

“So in a way, this study indirectly reveals some achilles heel of the colony. Future improvement for baiting technology may tap into this aspect,” Chouvenc said.

Chouvenc and Su collected Asian subterranean termites from swarming events in Broward County, using a light trap. In their laboratory, they grew young colonies with these new kings and queens and worked with different numbers of children termites. They discovered that at the very beginning, the queen and the king -- mom and dad -- care for their first babies.

However, as soon as these baby termites become functional (known as “workers”), they take care of their younger brothers and sisters. That leaves the parents with more time and resources to produce more babies, said Chouvenc, who, along with Su, are scientists at the UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center.

Termite caretaking wasn’t always like this. In fact, termites evolved from roaches, and roaches don’t exhibit such behaviors. Going from a small family unit of a primitive woodroach to a gigantic colony in termite societies took millions of years of evolution.

“Society grew more and more complex over time, resulting in termite colonies with millions of individuals,” said Chouvenc. “Some termite species became so good at taking care of their own that they colonized new ecological niches, including the wood inside your house.”

“Once the parents pass their parental care duty onto their first offspring, they become completely dependent on the siblings’ care,” said Chouvenc. “So in addition to having the kids taking care of their younger siblings, they also take care of their parents. This means that the king and queen will lay more eggs, and the colony will grow bigger and faster.”

The study is published in the journal Economic Entomology.

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By: Brad Buck, 352-294-3303, [email protected]

The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS works to bring science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents. Visit the UF/IFAS web site at ifas.ufl.edu and follow us on social media at @UF_IFAS.