Correspondence of soldier defense secretion mixtures with cuticular hydrocarbon phenotypes for chemotaxonomy of the termite genus Reticulitermes in North America

Soldier defense secretions from samples of Reticulitermes collected in Cali fornia, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Georgia were characterized and cor related with cuticular hydrocarbon phenotypes. Twenty-seven cuticular hydro carbon phenotypes have been defined. and soldier defense secretion (SDS) ph enotypes have been described for 25 of these. Forty-five terpenoid compound s were found. including monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and a few diterpenes. The monoterpenes include (-)-alpha -pinene, (-)-beta -pinene, (-)-camphene , myrcene, (Z)- and (E)-ocimene, and (-)-limonene. The major sesquiterpenes produced are (+)-gamma -cadinene, (+)-gamma -cadinene aldehyde, (-)-germac rene A, germacrene B, gamma -himachalene, and, beta -bisabolene. Some SDS p henotypes pair with more than one cuticular hydrocarbon phenotype; however, with two exceptions, each hydrocarbon phenotype is associated with only on e SDS phenotype. These chemical characterizations tend support to the concl usion that there are numerous undescribed species of Reticulitermes in Nort h America.