FAX 
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DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY 
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
MAIL STOP 105 
10TH & CONSTITUTION AYE., NW 
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20560 
Entomology FAX Number: 202-786-2894 
To Confirm Receipt of FAX: 202-357-2078 
DATE:. A u g ust ~ 6 » 1993 
rms-Mi Margaret S. Collins 
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Dear Mr. Martin : 
Please accept this preliminary report on the termite fauna of Dominica. 
It has a very diverse fauna for an island of its size, a tribute to the 
surviving forests and high rainfall. 
We are becoming increasingly aware of the vital role termites play in the 
maintenance of biodiversity in ecosystems, especially tropical forests, 
grasslands, and even some deserts or semi-deserts. Termites aerate the 
soil, help water percolate into deeper levels, alter soil structure, 
fix nitrogen and thus add to soil fertility. Microoragnisms in dry—wood 
termites can fix atmospheric nitrogen and the termites use it in growth 
and energy-release processes through an alternate pathway that does not 
increase the methane burden in the atmosphere ! Recycling the resistant 
cellulose tnat forms the walls of plant cells,, however, is the prime and 
indispensible activity of termites, and makes growth of other vegetation 
possible. 
The termites so 
far found on Dominica 
do 
("S" = reported in 1956 by Snyder) 
Neotermes castaneu s- a large Kalotermitid that lives in moist dead or 
living wood, sometimes damaging citrus, avocado, nut trees and ornamental 
shrubs such as oleander ; common in woods above Springfield; in many of 
the Caribbean Islands and in extreme south Florida 
Cryptoternes brevis (S)-a termite found only in houses or other buildings, 
found around the worlds tropics, never in the field; especially destructive 
to plywood 
Heterotermes tenuis (S)— a-small subterranean termite that may come into 
