16 
fANHS Ouft.Br JO fAjwbme } XDO 
HARVESTING 
TERMITES AND ANTS 
Jo Darlington 
U untruly Muuxm of Zotlngy 
l)«u ntHf Stmt. 
CamhriJff CB2 1EJ. UK 
I was very interested to read the two 
articles in EANIIS Bulletin 29(l&2) 
pp I k — 15. Of termites and 
associated plants by Dee Raymer 
and "Hard times for termites'* by Ian 
Gordon. 
Termirc alates usually fly during wet 
seasons, but since they are not gifted 
with prophecy (despite rhrir high 
reputation as weather forecasters), 
rhev do nor know in advunce if the 
rains jre going to fail. When I was 
working on M acrottrmu in Kujiado. 
the ‘normal" pattern was for alates 
to fly in the November rains, after 
seven months development inside the 
nest. If the November rains were 
poor Us they often urc) the muture 
alates remained in the nest, losing 
some weight but otherwise healthy, 
unril rhe next rains in April If these 
uiris were good, the alares could 
swarm successfully then. However, if 
the April rains also failed, no flights 
occurred, but the alates disappeared 
from the nests shortly afterwards 
I had assumed that the old brood 
were probably eaten by their sterile 
nest-mates (as normally happens 
when stcriles <! ie in the nest). 
Tins seems the most economical way 
to dispose of them, but termite 
digestion is adapted to plant food, 
and a whole brood of alates might be 
tun mm h lor them to cope with. Dee 
Rjymcr's observaton of alates 
emerging in June does indeed 
suggest that the doomed alates are 
simply cjn ted trom the nest to make 
room for the next generation This 
is more or less what Ian Gordon 
suggested, but the wei gbt I 055 
(above) indicates that the alates. once 
mjrurc. arc not fed by rhe workers, 
however long rhry remain in the 
nest. The intriguing (|uestinn is, how 
is tlir iiimmiinal decision made that 
enough is enough and the old brood 
has to go' 
Dec verms to be confusing harvesting 
ants wuh harvesting termites (and 
no. they arc nor the same thing!) It 
IS the Jilt. AfrJivr ctpha/atei (F.mcry). 
that makes the conspicuous oval 
patches of lure soil up to |0 m across 
in grassland that Dee described. The 
ants are large, reddish with a satin 
sheen, and can often be seen in 
daylight passing to jnd fro on their 
bare pathways, bringing in grass 
seeds to the nests The husks are later 
thrown our tormmg piles of chaff in 
the middle of the bare patch, where 
there arc often piles of small stones 
and soil 
Dee found Myrmttnicyt 'uritoriui 
C. Jeffrey (Cuctibir.iceac) growing in 
the bald patches I had previously 
found this plant at Ilkek near Gilgil. 
also gross ing on nests of U uphalniti 
