Incidence and Distribution of Termites (Isoptera) in Citrus Crops in the Caribbean Coast of Colombia

Abstract

In order to establish the incidence and distribution of four types of termites in citrus crops of the Caribbean coast of Colombia, were sampled 64 crops distributed in 61 farms in five departments (Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, Córdoba, and Magdalena). We used the exhaustive method of search termite nests and galleries in the citrus tree and its surroundings. Distribution maps were made with the occurrence of termites and with the ANOVA to compare the occurrence of termites among citrus species, age categories of the crop and between sampling areas (department and municipality). For the above comparisons statistically significant differences were not found. In total, 1975 trees were reviewed from which 899 had termites, 64% came from the crops of orange, 27.30% from common lemon tree and the remaining 8.70% from tahiti lemon crop and grapefruit. The samples were represented two families: Termitidae (57%) with ten genera (Anoplotermes, Amitermes, Cortaritermes, Microcerotermes, Nasutitermes, Neocapritermes, Orthognathotermes, Ruptitermes, Rhynchotermes and Termes) and Rhinotermitidae (43%) with two genera (Coptotermes and Heterotermes). 17 species were important for their abundance and wide distribution in the study area: Microcerotermes cf. arboreus (59%), Heterotermes convexinotatus (38.50%) and H. tenuis (27.50%). The presence of M. cf. arboreus, H. convexinotatus, H. tenuis, Coptotermes testaceus, C. crassus and Amitermes foreli are the most important findings of this work, because these termites are reported as important species for the Colombian forested, so it is recommended to do further research.