Breeding Patterns and Population Genetics of Eastern Subterranean Termites Reticulitermes flavipes in Urban Environment of Nebraska, United States

Authors

  • Abdul Hafiz Ab Majid Household & Structural Urban Entomology Laboratory, Vector Control Research Unit, School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800 Minden, MALAYSIA
  • Shripat Kamble
  • Hong Chen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v65i3.2821

Keywords:

Subterranean termites, Reticulitermes flavipes, urban environment, colony breeding, genetic structure

Abstract

Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) has become the most destructive subterranean termite pest, on urban structures in Nebraska. In this study, we used seven microsatellite loci to infer the colony breeding system and population genetic structure among 20 infested urban structures in Nebraska. Our data revealed that 17 structures were infested by simple family colonies of R. flavipes, while, the remaining three were infested with mixed family colonies. The measure of population differentiation, FCT value (0.459) indicated that all the 20 urban colonies (10 - 410 km apart) represented pronounced levels of genetic differentiation. The Mantel test disclosed a weak and significantly-positive correlation between genetic and geographic distance (slope = 0.0009, P = 0.001). The urban populations of R. flavipes in Nebraska possessed a breeding system characterized by monogamous pairs of outbred reproductives with excessive heterozygosity.

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Author Biography

Abdul Hafiz Ab Majid, Household & Structural Urban Entomology Laboratory, Vector Control Research Unit, School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800 Minden, MALAYSIA

Senior Lecturer
School of Biological Sciences,
Universiti Sains Malaysia

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Published

2018-10-02

How to Cite

Ab Majid, A. H., Kamble, S., & Chen, H. (2018). Breeding Patterns and Population Genetics of Eastern Subterranean Termites Reticulitermes flavipes in Urban Environment of Nebraska, United States. Sociobiology, 65(3), 506–514. https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v65i3.2821

Issue

Vol. 65 No. 3 (2018)

Section

Research Article - Termites

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