TERMITE-TERMITE INTERACTIONS: 
WORKERS AS AN AGONISTIC CASTE* 
By Barbara L. Thorne 
Museum of Comparative Zoology 
Harvard University 
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 
Termite soldiers are a defensive caste. Their heavily sclerotized 
head capsules can be equipped with hard mandibles capable of 
crushing, pinching, piercing, or slashing predators. Soldier castes of 
many phylogenetically advanced species have well-developed fron- 
tal glands and are capable of exuding or spraying chemical secre- 
tions. Such chemical armaments are toxic, irritable, or oily fluids 
which can impair physiological, sensory and/or mechanical facul- 
ties of the recipient (Prestwich, 1979). Termite soldiers are thus 
formidable opponents for ants and vertebrate predators. Soldiers are 
fed by workers and their behavior within the colony is generally 
limited to signaling alarm, participating in defense, and organizing 
foraging expeditions (Stuart, 1969; Traniello, 1981). 
Despite their specialization, however, soldiers are not the only 
defensive caste in a termite colony: worker termites of some species 
(from four families) are known to be able fighters in termite-termite 
aggressive interactions [Kalotermitidae (Grassi and Sandias, 1 896— 
1897; Dropkin, 1946); Hodotermitidae (Nel, 1968); Rhinotermitidae 
(Pickens, 1934; Clement, 1978); Termitidae (Dudley and Beaumont, 
1889a, b; Andrews 1911)]. This paper explores intra- and interspe- 
cific agonistic encounters among termites, and focuses on the roles 
of workers and soldiers in such conflicts. 
The report is presented in two sections, corresponding to two sets 
of experiments on this topic. Section A describes a field manipula- 
tion inducing intraspecific encounters among colonies of Nasuti- 
tennes corniger in Costa Rica. Section B presents data on 
laboratory experiments examining intra- and interspecific interac- 
tions among four species of Panamanian termites. 
* Manuscript received by the editor February /, 1982 
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