A CHEMOTAXONOMIC SURVEY USING CUTICULAR HYDROCARBONS OF SOME SPECIES OF THE AUSTRALIAN HARVESTER TERMITE GENUS DREPANOTERMES (ISOPTERA, TERMITIDAE)

The cuticular hydrocarbon compositions of 8 species of Drepanotermes a re reported. For most species these comprise alkanes with a narrow ran ge of carbon chain lengths; only one species, D. barretti, contains an appreciable amount of unsaturates. Comparisons amongst species show b oth similarities and marked differences in hydrocarbon profiles. Three widespread but morphologically and behaviorally distinct species have qualitatively similar hydrocarbon profiles. On the other hand, severa l instances are reported where morphologically similar, sympatric pair s of species show marked qualitative differences in cuticular hydrocar bons; these differences generally arise as a result of changes in chai n length. It is postulated that, in these cases, character displacemen t of hydrocarbons has occurred because for sympatric species different hydrocarbon compositions are advantageous for species recognition and integrity.