THE BIOLOGY OF NINE TERMITE SPECIES 
(ISOPTERA: TERMITIDAE) 
FROM THE CERRADO OF CENTRAL BRAZIL 
By Helen R. Coles de Negret 1 and Kent H. Redford 2 
Introduction 
The Neotropical region is second to the Ethiopian in numbers of 
described termite species (Araujo 1970). However, little is known of 
their biology. The literature on Brazilian termites is largely re- 
stricted to isolated taxonomic descriptions of species from the 
Amazon Basin and southern states of Brazil (Araujo 1961, 1969, 
1977 and Fontes 1979). Exceptions to this include information re- 
lating termite species and their distribution to vegetation types in 
Mato Grosso State (Mathews 1977), the effect of deforestation on 
termites in the Amazon (Bandeira 1979) and data on the ecology 
and defense of termites in the cerrado vegetation of the Distrito 
Federal (Coles 1980). 
The present study was done in conjunction with a study on 
mammalian termite predators, in particular the giant anteater, 
Myymecophaga tridaetyla (Coles 1980 and Redford in prep.). Six 
aspects of termite biology of importance in defense by termites 
against mammalian predators were studied for nine of the most 
common mound-building termite species in the Distrito Federal, 
Brazil. Reported here are individual weights, morphology of soldier 
castes, worker-soldier ratios, mound sizes and forms, mound hard- 
nesses and nest materials, distributions and abundances of nests and 
feeding habits for these nine species. 
All species studied were from the family Termitidae (see Fig. 1 for 
comparison of soldier heads), subfamily Apicotermitinae, Grigioter- 
mes metoecus (Matthews); subfamily Nasutitermitinae, Armitermes 
•Laboratoria de Zoologia e Ecologia Animal, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia D. F. 
80910, Brazil. 
2 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; and 
Department of Zoological Research, National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institu- 
tion, Washington, D.C. 20008. 
Manuscript received by the editor March 3, 1982. 
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