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Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Title:		Enemy deterrence in the recruitment strategy of a termite: Soldier-organized foraging in Nasutitermes costalis
Author(s):		Traniello JF;
Address:		"Department of Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138"
Journal Title:		Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Year:		1981
Volume:		78
Issue:		3
Page Number:		1976 - 1979
DOI:		10.1073/pnas.78.3.1976
ISSN/ISBN:		0027-8424 (Print) 1091-6490 (Electronic) 0027-8424 (Linking)
Abstract:		"The nasute soldiers of the neotropical termite Nasutitermes costalis function as scouts by exploring new terrain for food in advance of the worker caste and regulate foraging activity by laying trails composed of sternal gland pheromone. Additional soldiers are at first recruited in large numbers, and subsequently workers appear as the pheromone concentration increases. The role of the nasutes in the organization of foraging is extremely unusual for the soldier caste in social insects and appears to be a component of a foraging/defense system that controls the recruitment of foragers and effectively deters attacks by ants, the most fierce and important predators of termites"
Keywords:
Notes:		"PubMed-not-MEDLINETraniello, J F eng 1981/03/01 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Mar; 78(3):1976-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.3.1976"