(Central News Agency reporter Hao Xueqing, Taichung, 25th) The National Chung Hsing University announced today that a research team discovered that the Taiwanese termite and the invasive species gesta termite, which caused serious economic losses, already exist in the natural environment of Taichung, Taiwan. This is a major breakthrough in termite research.
National Chung Hsing University held a research results presentation today, during which it was announced that the research team of Professor Li Houfeng from the Department of Entomology at National Chung Hsing University, in cross-border cooperation with Tzu Chi University and the University of Florida, USA, has confirmed through field surveys and molecular biology techniques that in Taiwan’s natural environment, Hybrid termites already exist.
Li Houfeng explained that the Formosan termite is a native species in Taiwan, while the Guest termite is an invasive species. The earliest record in Taiwan can be traced back to 1911. The distribution areas of these two species have clear geographical distinctions. In nature, status will not meet.
Li Houfeng said that due to the frequent movement of humans across borders, termites have gradually spread through ships to areas that are not their native areas and have become invasive species, causing a total of tens of billions of dollars in economic losses around the world every year; there are also the intervention of human activities, and This creates opportunities for Formosan termites and Guest termites to meet in the natural environment.
Since the University of Florida has previously confirmed in the laboratory that two types of termites can hybridize to produce offspring, Li Houfeng said, the Taiwan team further explored whether the hybridization phenomenon in the laboratory would occur in the wild and whether it could successfully survive in the wild.
Li Houfeng explained that these two types of termites have been overlapping in Taiwan for at least more than 100 years, making it the most likely place in the world to observe hybrid termites in the wild. With the assistance of citizen scientists across Taiwan, the research team has spent many years working with the public and control professionals. Using the samples provided, we found the locations with the highest overlapping distribution ratios of the two types of termites, namely in Taichung, Yunlin and Chiayi.
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The research team classified and identified the collected termites and confirmed that in addition to the Taiwanese termites and the Guest termites, there is indeed a third group of termites with different shapes, that is, hybrid termites, all found in Taichung; and hybrid termites can not only be found in Survive in the wild and can even mate with Formosan termites or Guest termites to produce offspring.
Li Houfeng believes that the discovery of the existence of hybrid termites through field surveys in Taiwan can not only serve as evidence of past laboratory research results, but also represent a major breakthrough in termite research. (Editor: Chen Renhua) 1130425
