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by Martin H VilletA Guide to the Termites of Southern Africa. V.M. Uys. Plant Protection Research Institute Handbook 15. Agricultural Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa. 2002. iv + 116 pp. (softcover). ISBN 1-86849-216-8. The National Survey of Isoptera was possibly the most impressive sampling project ever done in southern Africa. Spanning 24 years, it yielded over twenty research papers and thousands of collecting records and photographs from the great majority of quarter-degree grid squares in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and most particularly South Africa. This fundamental work by W.G.H. Coaton and J.L. Sheasby was supplemented by J.E. Ruelle and more recently by W.A. Sands, providing an extensive but scattered literature that has finally been synthesised into a single, comprehensive and uniformly formatted handbook by Vivienne Uys. This has been no small task because five families, 54 genera (19% of the world total) and 165 described species (about 6% of the world total) of termites occur in southern Africa. About 5% of the world's species are endemic to the region, making this book a particularly useful assessment of the biodiversity of these ecologically and economically significant insects. The book begins with a general sketch of termite biology that touches on their life cycles, nutrition and nesting habits that is supplemented by more specific accounts under each family and genus. Since particular species are associated with particular economic problems, these problems are also described under the accounts of the relevant genera. A short section on morphology deals with the arcane social hierarchy of primary kings and queens, secondary adultoid and neotenic replacement and supplementary reproductives, soldiers and workers. This leads into a page of notes about collecting, preserving and identifying termites that serves to orientate readers for the remaining bulk of the book, which concerns the identification of termites. The taxonomic section is laid out in partially phylogenetic order, with genera presented alphabetically within families, which are listed from least evolved to most highly derived. Identifying termites is complicated by the fact that the worker and soldier castes are not universal, while reproductive individuals are often scarce. In addition, workers are not as spectacularly differentiated as soldiers, which has led to a relative neglect of their morphology. For these reasons, the well-illustrated taxonomic keys in this book for the identification of each family and genus focus on the soldier caste (except in the soldierless groups). The accounts of each genus include a list of southern African species, a diagnosis liked to clear line drawings, some biological comments, illustrated notes about geographical distribution, and a short bibliography for further reading. The abundant illustrations - there are 267 drawings and photographs - are in a uniform format that makes comparison easy and thereby make this book especially useful. The final section of the work is a comprehensive list of taxonomic references is followed by a one-page glossary and a two page index that focuses on scientific names. Termites are significant to humans as both crop, range and timber pests, and fill far less appreciated beneficial roles as decomposers and food sources for a wide spectrum of predators including man. In the process of decomposing cellulose, they also produce significant amounts of greenhouse gasses. This portfolio of activities makes termites of interest to pest managers and ecologists alike, and this compact, authoritative and inexpensive guide to termite identification will therefore be of use to a wide audience. It is also an especially valuable contribution towards South Africa's commitments to the international Convention on Biological Diversity, and similar guides to other southern African insect groups would be very welcome. More information:
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Professor Martin
H. Villet is a contributor to Science in Africa magazine and is with the
Department of Zoology & Entomology at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa.