Termite queen, king recognition pheromone identified

Researchers at North Carolina State University have for the first time identified a specific chemical used by the higher termite castes—the queens and the kings—to communicate their royal status with worker termites. ...

Oldest discovery to date of physogastric insects

Trapped in tree resin and preserved as in a time capsule: fossils enclosed in amber yield detailed insights into the anatomy of long extinct species. LMU zoologists Prof. Joachim T. Haug and Dr. Carolin Haug have discovered ...

Gold-coated fungi are the new gold diggers

The thread-like fungi attach gold to their strands by dissolving and precipitating particles from their surroundings, in a process that could offer clues for finding new gold deposits.

Critter control, au natural

(PhysOrg.com) -- It’s surprising how much havoc the tiny termite can wreak. Each year infestations of these insects cause an estimated $30 billion in damage to buildings and crops nationwide. Historically, homeowners and ...

Termite creates sustainable monoculture fungus-farming

(PhysOrg.com) -- Food production of modern human societies is mostly based on large-scale monoculture crops, but it now appears that advanced insect societies have the same practice. Our societies took just ten thousand years ...

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