Alates and their accompanying soldiers were collected from 39 subterranean termite colonies in hardwood sites of the Delmarva and a pine scrub site in Lewes, DE from 1997 to 2001. Soils in the hardwood sites were silt loam and clay loam. Soil in the pine scrub was sand. Alates were identified to species. Pronotal width measurements were made on 1,731 soldiers. No overlap was found between Reticulitermes flavipes and R. virginicus at the 95% confidence level. Pronotal width ranges were: R. flavipes (pine scrub), 0.84-1.04 mm; R. flavipes (hardwood), 0.85-1.03 mm; R. virginicus (pine scrub), 0.64-0.82 mm. This value for R. virginicus overlaps with the range for R. hageni found in Florida. It was concluded that a colony species identification in Delaware could be based on a sample of 5-10 soldiers with some degree of confidence.
Keywords: taxonomy
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA