PROBING TERMITE SOCIAL-SYSTEMS THROUGH ALLOZYME AND MTDNA ANALYSIS - A CASE-STUDY OF NASUTITERMES NIGRICEPS AND NASUTITERMES COSTALIS (ISOPTERA, TERMITIDAE)

Certain termite genera exhibit a high degree of variation with respect to the number and developmental origin of reproductives within single colonies. Although such variation is expected to influence patterns o f intracolonial competition and cooperation, it has thus far been diff icult to investigate. This study exploits both allozyme and mtDNA anal ysis of colony offspring to infer the reproductive composition of sing le colonies. This study focuses on two species of Nasutitermes which d iffer in their social structure - colonies of N. nigriceps are general ly led by a single mated pair, while those of N. costalis are regularl y polygamous. MtDNA analysis on N. nigriceps shows that all colony mem bers share the same haplotype, even in those cases where allozyme geno type frequencies suggest that colony offspring are derived from more t han one reproductive pair. Similar work on N. costalis revealed a comp lete lack of mtDNA and allozyme variation. It is discussed how breedin g system shifts from monogamy to polygamy in termites may be facilitat ed by population bottlenecks which reduce genetic diversity.