1986] 
Luykx, Michel, & Luykx — Incisitermes 
1.4 
359 
1.2 J 
1.0 
V C/ .8] 
7 V t 
.6 
.4 - 
. 2 - 
. 0 - 
••• 
: 
•• 
w — ► n — ► n 
CASTE 
Fig. 4. Aggregation of individuals with successive developmental stage: w, 
workers; n, early-stage nymphs; n', late-stage nymphs; a, alates (imagos). V C /V T , 
ratio of position-variance of members of a given caste to position-variance of all 
castes in the colony taken together. 
of the association is not entirely clear. It is usually thought (e.g., see 
Wilson, 1971) that in termites the care of the youngest larvae is 
assumed by older siblings — this is, after all, one of the hallmarks of 
eusociality. It might seem surprising, therefore, that the larvae 
remain associated with their parents even in the presence of numer- 
ous older siblings. It may be that in some termite species, particu- 
larly among the lower termites, the parents continue to provide 
some essential nutrients to newly-hatched larvae, something that 
cannot readily be provided by older siblings. Something like this has 
been seen by Nalepa (1984) in family groups in Cryptocercus punc- 
tulatus, a subsocial wood-eating cockroach widely regarded as a 
model of termite ancestors. 
