My New Eusocial Wood Roaches, AKA Dampwood Termites!

I received a starter culture of Zootermopsis angusticollis "Presidio of San Francisco, CA" earlier this year, started from a dozen or so individuals isolated from my friend Brandon Maines' large colony (who in turn got his from hobbyist Gary Ge). These are one of the largest US termite species, and are a species of dampwood termite, which are not house pests and can only survive in quite humid wood, preferring rotten wood or at least slightly aged, ground up wood that's easier to break down and consume.

They were in a minimally ventilated 32 oz deli cup filled with sawdust and a chunk of rotten wood, kept moist and at around 75-80F°. They filled that cup up and broke down most of the substrate surrounding their wood chunk (and hollowed out the wood chunk pretty thoroughly) over the past several months, and so I've just moved them to a minimally ventilated 5 gallon gasket bin, filled nearly to the brim with damp, slightly aged sawdust. I'm hopeful that they'll acclimate to their new home quickly, and will fill that enclosure up in time.

Secondary reproductive soldier

Secondary reproductive worker

Secondary reproductive (L) & normal worker (R)

Normal worker

Eggs

Interestingly, at least in Zootermopsis, soldiers and workers alike can become secondary reproductives in the absence of a proper Queen/King, and there can be several secondary reproductives in a single colony, not just a pair. Additionally, workers can switch castes as needed, becoming soldiers or even proper alates if the colony deems it necessary (usually this is triggered by environmental changes).

Such a unique and interesting family of roaches, I would like to acquire more non-pest termites going forward, there's some really crazy species out there like Marginitermes hubbardi and Pterotermes occidentis that I'd love to work with!

Anyways, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉