Colony Elimination of Reticulitermes speratus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) by Bait Application and the Effect on Foraging Territory

Abstract

A natural colony of Reticulitermes speratus (Kolbe), the foraging population and territory of which had been estimated previously by a triple mark-recapture program at the Uji campus of Kyoto University, was used to determine the effect of bait applications. Bait stations and bait tubes containing hexaflumuron were placed in the foraging territory in October 1995 to eradicate the colony. The number of monitoring stations with foraging termites decreased after May 1996 and no attack was observed by July 1996. Because a later inspection in October 1996 demonstrated no further termite attacks of monitoring stations in the foraging territory, the colony that was composed originally of >300,000 foraging termites was considered to be eliminated by bait application. Approximately 33 mg of hexaflumuron was consumed by the colony. Ten months after the end of bait application (May 1997) some termites were present at 3 monitoring stations in the foraging territory of the eradicated colony. Reinfestation of a few more stations was found after June 1997. Because no marked termite individuals were recaptured from any station in the foraging territory of the test colony after elimination by baitings, it was impossible to determine whether this group of termites belonged to the original colony or came from a separate colony. Our results supggest limited applicability of mark-release-recapture methodology to determine colony eradication of R. speratus based on the presence or absence of marked termites.