Morphometric analysis of soldier cast of Odontotermes obesus (Rambur) and Microtermes obesi (Holmgren) (Blattodea: Termitidae; Macrotermitinae) from three localities of Potohar region, Pakistan
Keywords:
Soldier Cast, Odontotermes obesus, Microtermes obesi, Morphometric analysisAbstract
A great diversity of termite species is found all over the world, among these 53 species are identified from Pakistan. The knowledge about morphological features in soldier cast of termites is proved to be a technical tool for taxonomy and identification. In the present studies, the morphometric variations of external morphology in soldier caste of Odontotermes obesus (Rambur) and Microtermes obesi (Holmgren) from three different areas i.e. Gujar Khan (A), Rawalpindi (B) and Islamabad (C) were studied. About 36 characters like body, thorax, abdomen, from head to mandible tip, head, pronotum, postmentum, mandible, antenna (scape, pedicle, flagellum), and legs parts were used for morphometric measurements. The data were statistically analyzed for significant differences in their mean, standard deviation, standard error, 95% confidence interval, coefficient of variability and analysis of variance. “Student t-test” was used for the comparison of mean values using Minitab version 16. The results of the present study revealed no significant differences among the population samples collected from various localities. However little variations were observed in a few characters like antennal segments (pedicle, scape) and legs (trochanter, tibia) among the soldier cast which are adaptive in nature to survive in the environment.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2022 Dr. Asma Ashraf, Dr. Naveed Akhtar Qureshi, Dr. Saima Qadeer, Mr. Abdur Rehman Azam, Dr. Sana Ullah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The content of AJLS is licensed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).