Colony and population genetic structure was examined in the subterranean termite, Reticulitermes virginicus, using microsatellite markers and DNA sequencing. Samples were collected from two undisturbed forests located in the Piedmont of North Carolina. DNA was extracted from at least 20 individuals from 35 colonies and genotyped at 8 polymorphic microsatellite loci. A 400 base pair mitochondrial DNA fragment was sequenced on at least 2 individuals in all colonies. In Schenck Memorial Forest, 47% of colonies were simple Mendelian families and 53% were non-Mendelian. Whereas in Duke Forest, 30% were Mendelian and 70% were non-Mendelian. Analysis of F-statistics and relatedness coefficients in non-Mendelian colonies suggest the presence of a small number of unrelated reproductives inbred for between 1 to 3 generations in both forests. In Schenck Memorial Forest, 3 out of the 15 colonies examined had more than 4 alleles present at a locus, suggesting either multiple unrelated reproductives within a colony or more than one colony in a foraging site. Sequencing of the 400 base pair fragment is still being conducted.
Species 1: Isoptera Rhinotermitidae Reticulitermes virginicus (subterranean termite)
Keywords: termite, molecular markers
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA