1982] 
Negret & Redford — Termite Species 
85 
from the three nests were weighed and Nasutitermes for which five 
nests were sampled. The results are presented in Table 1 and are 
ordered from heaviest soldiers to lightest soldiers. Syntermes dims 
has workers and soldiers much heavier than the next heaviest spe- 
cies, Cornitermes. The termite species with soldiers possessing 
strong or long mandibles are heavier than those termites whose 
soldiers have vestigial mandibles, and well developed nasi. These 
latter soldiers are also lighter than their workers, a relationship 
reversed in the other termite species. 
Table 1. Individual wet weights of termites (measurements expressed in micro- 
grams; mean with standard deviation in parentheses). 
Species 
Workers 
Soldiers 
Syntermes dims 
42.75a 
117.3 
(2.34) 
(11.1) 
Cornitermes cumulans 
9.30 
19.83 
(0.36) 
(1.07) 
Orthognathotermes gibberorum 
6.91 
19.09b 
(0.75) 
(0.69) 
Procornitermes araujoi 
6.63 
8.26 
(0.76) 
(0.40) 
Grigiotermes metoecus 
6.27 
(0.95) 
— 
Armitermes euamignathus 
3.48 
4.19 
(0.15) 
(0.52) 
Cortaritermes silvestri 
3.23 
2.08 
(0.12) 
(0.20) 
Nasutitermes sp. 
3.46c 
1.56 
(1.06) 
(0.42) 
Velocitermes paucipilis 
2.52c 
1.31b 
(0.55) 
(0.09) 
a Equal number of all three morphs weighed, 
b Only major soldiers weighed, 
c Mixture of two worker types weighed. 
