Japanese researchers discovered that termites of the same species from different colonies build different termite mounds. If the colony is divided into parts and each group is given its own supply of pressed sawdust for construction, then they will create similar buildings independently of each other. details with reference to an article in the journal Insectes Sociaux . provides Science Shots

Experts from Kyoto University studied the behavior of termites of the species Reticulitermes speratus , which usually live underground and feed on cellulose. The scientists first collected eight different colonies in different suburbs of Tokyo, and then placed them in laboratory plastic boxes with briquettes of compressed sawdust. Each colony was divided into five groups. Some insects did not build anything; one structure collapsed during the experiments, but 37 termite mounds built by the end of the experiment allowed us to draw conclusions about the presence of each colony with its own unique housing scheme.

To avoid subjective errors when comparing termite mounds, the researchers described each specimen with a number of parameters. Insect dwellings were characterized by the number of side passages, the size of different parts, and the presence of intersecting tunnels: these objectively recorded parameters were used for statistical analysis. The scientists conducted both a cluster analysis , designed to identify similar termite mounds, and an analysis of variance , which made it possible to establish the reliability of the differences between one group and another. The data presented in the study suggests that individual colonies are indeed distinguished by the presence of their own “architectural style” and the characteristic patterns of termite mound organization can be inherited.

Previously, a group of American researchers managed to show that the structural features of hamster burrows are somehow encoded in the animal’s genome. Scientists were unable to identify specific genes responsible for the presence of additional exits or the length of tunnels, but they proved the hypothesis about the genetic determination of the burrow pattern in a series of experiments on crossing rodents.

Termites found inherited patterns of termite mounds