MORPHOMETRIC STUDIES ON THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE TERMITE MACROTERMES GILVUS (HAGEN) (ISOPTERA: TERMITIDAE) IN A LOCALISED AREA

A morphometric study of 13 colonies of the termite, Macrotermes gilvus sampled from 6 locations at the Universiti Sains Malaysia campus was conducted. Measurements of 13 variables were performed on both the dorsal and ventral parts of the body of the major and minor soldiers of this species. The ANOVA statistics indicated that each of the 13 variables was significantly different (p 0.05) in the 13 colonies. However, Student-Neuman-Keuls (SNK) tests on single characters did not reveal consistent pattern of colony differentiation. Variation in size and shape were investigated by the multivariate analysis principal component analysis (PCA) while discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used to analyse differentiation between colonies. Graphical representation of the data did not reveal any obvious patterning but a few colonies were discriminated from the main group. We suggest the potential of some characteristics in future morphometric studies on this species.