Abstract

What do you know about termites? Perhaps you’ve heard that some termites can infest your home. But there are many different species out there. For example, subterranean termites make tunnels in the soil to look for food. Like other social insects, termites divide their tasks by assigning them to different groups. So how do they organize the tunnel construction?

 We wanted to identify the specific individuals who are the most active during the start and expansion of tunnel construction. We monitored five groups of 30 termites for three days and found that it was usually three individuals who do most of the work all the time. We believe that these top busy workers are also responsible for the organization of the tunnel network.