A few days after mating, the female lays from 6 to 12 eggs. Hatching occurs in 
about 50 to 60 days, and the young larvae grow to maturity in less than | year. Later, 
both soldiers and reproductive nymphs appear in the colony and reach maturity 
within | and 2 years, respectively. Mating continues at irregular intervals, and the 
colony continues to increase in size. The original pair of reproductives lives 
together for life, sometimes for many years. The female increases greatly in size 
(fig. 14F) and produces literally thousands of eggs in her lifetime. In well- 
established colonies, there may be hundreds of thousands of individuals. In very 
large colonies, supplementary reproductives (fig. 14G) will develop in a colony to 
produce eggs if the primary reproductives die. These large colonies may be so 
widely spread out that it is difficult or impossible to estunate their size or to locate 
their main parts. 
Reticulitermes tibialis Banks is the most widely distributed species of Re- 
ticulitermes in North America. It is largely confined to the arid areas of the western 
half of the United States but also occurs eastward in the North Central States as far 
as the Chicago area. To the east, R. tibialis overlaps a portion of the ranges of R. 
flavipes, R. hageni Banks, and R. virginicus (Banks). Along the southern shores of 
Lake Michigan, R. tibialis coexists with R. arenincola Goellner among sand dunes, 
where it infests small pieces of wood partly buried in the sand. Farther to the 
southwest, in Kansas and Texas, it occurs in heavily sodded prairies and in hard- 
packed and often alkali soil. 
While R. tibialis is fully capable of damaging buildings, it is not as economically 
important as R. flavipes because of the thinly populated regions in which it occurs. 
Flights of this species occur over a large part of the year during the fall, winter, or 
spring, depending on the locality. Winged adults, in general, are almost entirely 
shiny black and about 10 mm long. The tibiae are also blackened and the pronotum 
is broad. 
Reticulitermes virginicus occurs in the southeastern and central portions of the 
United States. Its range coincides closely with that of R. hageni in the east, 
although it does not appear to extend as far to the west. It is often mistaken for R. 
flavipes but is smaller. Throughout its range, R. virginicus overlaps the region 
occupied by R. flavipes, but it does not extend into the northern regions occupied 
by this latter species. In general, the line of northward extension of R. virginicus 
coincides with the regions where the average annual minimum temperature does not 
fall below — 23° C. Westward, this species extends through southern Illinois and 
Missouri, south to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, as far west as Houston, Tex., 
and eastward to the southern tip of Florida (/267). 
Reticulitermes hageni is a small yellow-brown species and is the most distinctive 
of the Reticulitermes. It occupies about the same territory as R. virginicus. These 
two species are reported to occur more commonly in drier forested areas than does 
R. flavipes. 
Reticulitermes arenincola was described from collections from the sand dunes 
along the southern shore of Lake Michigan in Indiana and Michigan. Little has been 
detailed regarding the field biology of this species. It inhabits sandy areas, and its 
flights occur toward the end of May. 
Flights of R. virginicus tend to occur later in the spring than those of R. flavipes, 
although some overlap occurs between these two species. Flights of R. hageni tend 
to occur later than those of R. virginicus, although, again, there is some overlap 
between species. Flights of R. virginicus in the southern portion of its range occur 
58 
