Swarming behavior of the termite, Eremotermes neoparadoxalis Ahmad (Termitidae : Amitermitianae) at Jodhpur (Western India)

Observations on swarming in Eremotermes neoparadoxalis were made in the fie ld at Jodhpur (Rajasthan). Swarming takes place usually with the pre-monsoo n heavy showers, which generally occur during June and early July but occas ionally, in May also. Alates wait in "Swarming Chamber" and emerge from sma ll holes in the ground in early evening. During emergence-night, no intimat e association is seen between males and females but when the alates descend to the ground and shed their wings, they show tandem coupling behavior. No rmally, only one pair settles down in each brood chamber, but sometimes, tw o to three pairs are seen together in a single brood chamber. Based on the observations of last 11 years (1987-1997), influence of pre-monsoon and mon soon showers on the emergence of alates is discussed.