SOLDIER DEFENSE SECRETIONS OF MALAYSIAN FREE-RANGING TERMITE OF THE GENUS LACESSITITERMES (ISOPTERA, NASUTITERMITINAE)

Soldiers of free-ranging termites of the genus Lacessititermes (Isoptera, Nasutitermitinae) secrete from their frontal glands a mixture of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and diterpenes. Lacessititermes ransoneti, L. laborator, and L. species A produce species-specific secretions, the composition being most complex for L. laborator. Apart from known mono- and dihydroxytrinervitadienes, the following new diterpenes were isolated and tentatively assigned as trinervita-1(15),8(19)-dien-2β,3α,9α,14α-tetraol 2,3,14-O-triacetate, trinervita-1(15),8(19)-dien-2β,3α,9β,14α-tetraol 2,3,14-O-triacetate, 2β,3α,9α, 14α-tetraacetoxy-1 (15), 8(19)-trinervitadiene, and 2β,3α,11α,13α-tetraacetoxy-1(15),8(19)-trinervitadiene. Data on intragenus chemical variations were subjected to canonical discriminant analysis and genetic distances among the species were calculated to depict intragenus identities and affinities. © 1990 Plenum Publishing Corporation.