1982] 
Negret & Redford — Termite Species 
99 
Table 7. Modal feed 
consumed). 
ing habits (+ + = commonly consumed; + = 
occasionally 
SPECIES 
FOOD SOURCE 
Grass & 
Sound Decomposing 
Herbaceous 
Humus Wood Wood 
Litter 
Grigiotermes 
++ 
metoecus 
Armitermes 
++ 
_|_ 
euamignathus 
1 
Cornitermes 
++ 
cum u Ians 
Cortaritermes 
si Ivest ri 
+(?) 
+ (?) 
Nasut iterates sp.n. 
+ ' ! + ' 
++ 
Procornitermes 
++ 
araujoi 
Svntermes dirus 
++ 
Velocitermes 
paucipilis 
-++ 
Orthognat hotermes 
gihherorum 
++(?) 
ments carried out on laboratory colonies showed that workers col- 
lect dead grass in greater amounts than live. When presented with 
only dead roots or dead grass blades, they fed more on the latter. 
Cortaritermes si /vest ri 
Field observations made in the Distrito Federal and information 
presented in Mathews ( 1977) indicate that this species feeds in grass 
tussocks among the roots and stems. It is not clear, however, 
whether it feeds on the organic residues in the soil or on the grass 
roots themselves. 
Nasutitennes sp. 
These termites have not been observed foraging in the open and 
rarely construct runways over the ground as do many other species 
in this genus. It is probable that they excavate underground tunnels 
to their food source, the exact nature of which is not known. Recent 
