The two most destructive termite species in the world have found their direction to Florida and are now pairing off with one another , raising fear that colony of a new “ super ” cross could shortly be on the way . And if lab studies represent what ’s going on in the theater , then this could be reasonably bad tidings : the resulting hybrid colony grew double as fast as those of the parent species and could potentially have a broad mountain range , mean they could go on to occupy new habitats . The findings have been published inPLOS ONE .
Human body process , such as habitat alteration or tape drive , can facilitate the spread of a specie to a new field , but this tend tofavorthose with encroaching capability since these coinage are able to easy adapt to their novel niche . While it ’s well - lie with that these invaders can cross - breed with aboriginal species , it ’s very uncommon for two invasive species to hybridize , but now it seems we may have another case on our hands .
The Formosan subterraneous white ant ( Coptotermes formosanus ) and the Asiatic subterranean white ant ( C. gestroi ) are extremely destructive urban plague responsible for a substantial lump of the$40 billion damagecaused by termites each year . The former come from China and Taiwan , whereas the latter is native to south - E Asia . But thanks to human activity , both species have spread to and constitute themselves new areas , and there are now three places where their distribution overlap : south Taiwan , Hawaii and southeast Florida .
In south Florida , scientists had documented that the two mintage have distinct conjugation seasons in which the colony release K of soul that drove , drop their wings , find a mate and then establish a raw settlement . But this sentence two years ago , scientists observed for the first time both species diffuse in a undivided location , providing the chance for interspecies mating .
Worryingly , field studies then unwrap not only that the two species were indeed pairing off , but also thatC. gestroimales preferred to mate withC. formosanusfemales . Although it ’s not light why at this stage , pass author Thomas Chouvenc toldLive Scienceit ’s possible that both species may use the same mating pheromone , but female Formosans could be let loose slightly more than the female Asian termite .
To inquire the potential consequences of species hybridization , researchers from the University of Florida collected males and females from both species and brought them into the lab . While settlement organisation rate was found to be the same for the different pairings , alarmingly , the hybrid colonies grew twice as tight as normal dependency , producing around 150 white ant per year equate with only 80 for individual - species Colony .
Of of course , this does not necessarily represent what is blend on in the arena , but the research worker have further studies design . moreover , at this microscope stage it is unclear as to whether the loan-blend will be fertile or unimaginative , like mules . But even if the hybrids can not reproduce , the investigator manoeuver out that they still stage a potential threat to construction yield the fact that colonies can make it up to20 years .
