浙江省等翅目两新种（等翅目：白蚁科）

本文记述了等翅目白蚁科两新种：浙江大白蚁Ｍａｃｒｏｔｅｒｍｅｓ ｚｈｅｊｉａｎｇｅｎｓｉｓ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．和小葫白蚁Ｃｕｃｕｒｂｉｔｅｒｍｅｓ ｐａｒｖｉｃｅｐｓ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．。标本均采自浙江省,正模保存于广东省昆虫研究所。     

Termite mound density and distribution patterns across three land-use types in the Vhembe District of the Limpopo Province,South Africa

This study investigated the effect of land-use on density and distribution patterns of termite mounds. A total area of 12 ha was investigated using four 1 ha plots from each of three land-use types (mango orchards, maize fields and communal rangelands). A total of 297 mounds from four termite species were recorded. Plotted GIS coordinates for each mound in ArcMap showed a random distribution pattern in all land-use types. The mean number of mounds per hectare was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in communal rangelands (52.5 ± 1.21), than in maize fields (14.75 ± 3.15) and mango orchards (7.5 ± 0.87), and dominated by small-sized mounds of Trinervitermes sp. Few mounds of Odontotermes sp. were found. Mounds of the edible termites, Macrotermes natalensis and M. falciger, were found in all land-use types, with the highest density for both species being in maize fields. Although the mound height for both species was similar, mound circumference for M. falciger was significantly larger (p < 0.001) which may limit land available for agricultural use. Density of mounds was influenced by land-use which may lead to changes in termite ecosystem functioning and availability of termites as a free source of protein.     

Use of a tool-set by Pan troglodytes troglodytes to obtain termites (Macrotermes) in the periphery of the Dja Biosphere Reserve, southeast Cameroon

At the northern periphery of the Dja Biosphere Reserve (southeastern Cameroon) we recorded a new use of a tool-set by Pan troglodytes troglodytes to prey on Macrotermes muelleri, M. renouxi, M. lilljeborgi, and M. nobilis. We recovered 79 puncturing sticks and 47 fishing probes at 17 termite nests between 2002 and 2005. The mean length of the puncturing sticks (n = 77) and fishing probes (n = 45) was 52 cm and 56 cm, respectively, and the mean diameter was 9 mm and 4.5 mm, respectively. Sixty-eight percent of 138 chimpanzee fecal samples contained major soldiers of four Macrotermes species. The chimpanzees in southeastern Cameroon appeared to be selective in their choice of plant material to make their tools. The tools found at our study site resemble those from other sites in this region. However, in southeastern Cameroon only one tool-set type was found, whereas two tool-set types have been reported in Congo. Our study suggests that, along with the different vegetation types and the availability of plant material around termite nests, the nest and gallery structure and foraging behavior of the different Macrotermes spp. at all Central African sites must be investigated before we can attribute differences in tool-use behavior to culture.     

Cuticular hydrocarbons in a termite: phenotypes and a neighbour–stranger effect

Abstract The composition of cuticular hydrocarbons of different colonies of the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes falciger shows considerable intercolonial variation. Ordination, as well as cluster analyses, separate profiles into three distinct chemical phenotypes. Behavioural tests with major workers reveal no alarm behaviour or mortality in pairings of workers from the same colony but a full range from no alarm to overt aggression, with associated death, when individuals were paired from different colonies. The level of mortality increases with differences in the composition of cuticular hydrocarbons between colonies. However, no mortality occurs in pairings of individuals from neighbouring colonies belonging to different phenotypes. The data thus provide evidence for a 'neighbour–stranger' effect (so-called 'dear-enemy' phenomenon) in termites.     

Chimpanzees' choices of prey between two sympatric species ofMacrotermes in the Campo Animal Reserve,Cameroon

Details are presented relating to chimpanzees' choices between two sympatric species of termites,Macrotermes lillijeborgi andM. vitrialatus, as food in the Campo Animal Reserve, southwest Cameroon, West Africa. An attempt was made to determine the various factors that affected such choices. The two species of termites seemed to have almost the same value in terms of ecological factors. However, chimpanzees fed almost exclusivelyonM. lillijeborgi, using digging sticks and fisching probes, during the study period which extended from the end of August to the middle of January, with their feeding activity showing peak at the beginning of the rainy season. By contrast,M. vitrialatus was rarely eaten in spite of the ease with which such prey could be obtained, namely, by desctruction of termite mounds by hand, without the need for tools. The reason that the chimpanzees discriminated between the two species of termite cannot be explained in terms of ecological factors such as size of prey, seasonal differences in termite activity, etc. Sticks used as tools were fairly uniform in size and character, mainly because of physical constraints related to the structure of termite mounds, and the brush-like ends of sticks seemed to be incidentaly byproducts of the chimpanzee's choice of plant species. Ecological factors could provide chimpanzees with a basis for the use of some kind of tool and help them modify it, while other factors, for example, something akin to leisure or the chimpanzee's interest in use of a tool, could provide an opportunity for inventing some tool-using behavior or for maintaining such behavior. These different factors, not being exclusive of one another, might affect the invention and maintenance of tool using-behavior at different phases. It is possible that chimpanzee's choice of prey may not always be the most efficient or appropriate in a given ecological situation.     

Ventilation of termite mounds: new results require a new model

In 1955, Lüscher proposed a ventilation mechanism forcathedral-shaped termite mounds to exchange respiratory gases. This mechanism was generally accepted, although it had neverbeen tested critically. We tested this mechanism by investigatingtemperatures, CO₂ concentrations, and air currents in and aroundtwo types of Macrotermes bellicosus mounds: cathedral-shapedmounds with many ridges and thin walls located in the savannaand dome-shaped mounds without ridges and with thick wallsin the forest. These two mound shapes have two different mechanismsof ventilation, depending on the environmental temperature.In the savanna during the day, sun heats the air in the peripheralair channels inside the ridges of the mound above the centralnest temperatures and produces a temperature gradient in theperipheral air channels with decreased temperatures at thetop of the mound. This temperature gradient leads to convectioncurrents with air rising inside the air channels of the ridgesto the top of the mound, meanwhile exchanging CO₂. In contrast,in the savanna during the night and generally in the forest,the temperatures inside the air channels are lower than thoseof the central nest, and no air currents rising upward insidethe air channels were detected. The CO₂ concentrations in theair channels of savanna mounds at night and forest mounds ingeneral were higher than during the day in the savanna. Therefore,our data do not support Lüscher's proposed mechanism.     

云南大白蚁属一新种（等翅目：白蚁科）

我国已知大白蚁属１８种,其中仅１种属于大,中,小（兵蚁,工蚁）三态类型,由李桂祥,平正明定名为三型大白蚁。作者等于１９９４年,在云南省南亚热带地区,发现另一三态类型大白蚁,定名为箕头大白蚁新种。     

黄翅大白蚁后肠几丁质降解微生物的分离与鉴定

【目的】从培菌白蚁——黄翅大白蚁后肠微生物菌群中分离能降解几丁质的细菌。【方法】以胶体几丁质为唯一碳源,根据胶体几丁质水解透明圈的大小进行筛选。通过形态学、生理生化以及16SrRNA基因序列分析进行菌株鉴定。【结果】从黄翅大白蚁肠道中筛选到8株能够降解胶体几丁质的细菌,它们分别属于芽孢杆菌属(Bacillus)、短芽孢杆菌属(Brevibacillus)、纤维单胞菌属(Cellulomonas)、指孢囊菌属(Dactylosporangium)、黄杆菌属(Flavobacterium)、类芽孢杆菌属(Paenibacillus)、鞘氨醇单胞菌属(Sphingomonas)和寡养单胞菌属(Stenotrophomonas)。8株菌均具有几丁质酶、β-葡萄糖苷酶和内切葡聚糖酶活性。【结论】从黄翅大白蚁后肠中获得8株能够降解胶体几丁质并具有其他碳水化合物降解酶活性的细菌,这一研究为了解白蚁肠道微生物协助白蚁消化食物机制提供了依据。