Hodotermitidae

General

The family consists of three extant genera and some 18 or 19 species. Anacanthotermes is found in deserts and semideserts of North Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, including Baluchistan and southern India. Hodotermes has a vast range from Palaearctic North Africa, through the East African savannas to the karroid regions of southern Africa. Microhodotermes is a genus of desert specialists in the Namib, Kalahari, and Karoo, where their ranges overlap with Hodotermes.

Although they were once considered a part of Archotermopsidae, they are now generally viewed as their own distinct family which merely retain plesiomorphies with the other basal Isoptera.

Nests

They nest by excavating in the soil, unlike the Archotermopsidae and Kalotermitidae. conical mounds on soil with sufficient clay content.Grassé P. P.; Noirot, J. C. 1951. La Sociotomie: migration et fragmentation de la termitiere chez les Anoplotermes et les Trinervitermes. Behaviour 3: 146-166

Reproduction

Soon after rain showers, swarms of flying termites, alates or winged reproductives, emerge from their underground nests during summer evenings. When sufficiently distant from the parent nest, they land, shrug off their wings, and scout about for a mate. The pair then excavates a burrow to start a new colony. A week after swarming, the female lays her first eggs, which are tended by the couple, a task soon taken over by the maturing workers. After some four months, the nest is sufficiently developed to send foraging workers to the surface. For the next few years, most of the eggs develop into workers and a small number of soldiers. When the nest is sufficiently large, winged reproductives again develop.

Diet and feeding

The workers of M. viator collect mostly woody material, with Pteronia and vygie species being favoured. In this species, the sixth instar larvae digest and distribute food within the colony

Predators

Harvester termites form the main component in the diet of the diurnal bat-eared fox in east and southern Africa. For this unusual diet, these foxes have 48 small teeth compared to the 42 teeth of all other dogs. They also have large ears to hear the insects in their underground chambers, before they are dug up. Similarly, the nocturnal fennec fox procures termites by digging. Widespread foraging and burrowing activities of aardvarks are associated with heuweltjies inhabited by M. viator.

Economic impact

They can deplete grass in pastures and contribute to soil erosion, but are less effective when grasslands are not overgrazed or disturbed. Over the long term, however, their decomposing and recycling of plant material contribute to soil fertility and the global cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements.

References

References

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2. Scholtz, Clarke H.. (1985). "Insects of Southern Africa". Butterworths.
3. Picker, Mike. (2004). "Field Guide to Insects of South Africa". Struik Publishers.
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6. Moore, J. M.. (1991). "Heuweltjies (earth mounds) in the Clanwilliam district, Cape Province, South Africa: 4000-year-old termite nests". Oecologia.
7. (2 October 2015). "Utilization of the termite (Hagen) by gekkonid lizards near Keetmanshoop, South West Africa". South African Journal of Zoology.
8. Bell, R. A.. (1999). "Insect Pests: Harvester Termites". KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs.
9. Minkley, Nina. "Nestmate discrimination in the harvester termite Hodotermes mossambicus". IUSSI.
10. Ewer, R. F.. (1973). "The Carnivores". Cornell University Press.
11. Holekamp, Kay E.. "Aardwolf: Diet and Foraging". IUCN, Hyaena Specialist Group.