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Hydrocarbon mixtures extracted from fecal pellets of drywood termites are species-specific and can be characterized to identify the termites responsible for damage, even when termites are no longer present or are unable to be recovered easily. In structures infested by drywood termites, it is common to find fecal pellets, but difficult to sample termites from the wood. When fecal pellets appear after remedial treatment of a structure, it is difficult to determine whether this indicates that termites in the structure are still alive and active or not. We examined the hydrocarbon composition of workers, alates, and soldiers of Incisitermes minor (Hagen) (family Kalotermitidae) and of fecal pellets of workers. Hydrocarbons were qualitatively similar among castes and pellets. Fecal pellets that were aged for periods of 0, 30, 90, and 365 days after collection were qualitatively similar across all time periods, however, the relative quantities of certain individual hydrocarbons changed over time, with 19 of the 73 hydrocarbon peaks relatively increasing or decreasing. When the sums of the positive and negative slopes of these 19 hydrocarbons were indexed, they produced a highly significant linear correlation (R 2 = 0.89). Consequently, the quantitative differences of these hydrocarbons peaks can be used to determine the age of worker fecal pellets, and thus help determine whether the colony that produced them is alive or dead.

Cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) mixtures from workers of five distinct CHC phenotypes of Reticulitermes Holmgren 1913 from two locations in northern California were examined from monthly collections taken over a 3-yr period. The objectives of this study were (1) to identify and quantify variations of the CHCs of multiple colonies of each of these phenotypes (= species or subspecies) to demonstrate consistency, (2) to assess the potential of CHC mixtures to separate or identify colonies within each phenotype, and (3) to detect any temporal changes in each of the hydrocarbons in the CHC mixtures. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling of all CHC mixtures of all samples collected at both locations separated the samples into five clearly visible, different groups of CHC phenotypes (taxa or species) of Reticulitermes. The degree of variability of the CHC mixtures among colonies of each phenotype was such that nonmetric multidimensional scaling did not separate or identify colonies. Strong seasonal fluctuations were evident in some of the CHCs of all five phenotypes and were significantly consistent with a sine curve. Maximum proportions of seasonal CHCs within a phenotype occurred in all seasons of the year but occurred mostly in the winter and summer. In general, the CHCs displaying maximum values in the winter were short-chained (C23–C27) methyl-branched alkanes, whereas the CHCs displaying maximum values in the summer were long-chained (C35–C43) methyl-branched alkanes, which likely influences water retention. These consistent chemical fingerprints are probably responsible for inter-phenotype recognition patterns and are thus useful for chemical taxonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine individual differences in the effects of mortality salience on romantic attachment style. Participants were categorized as high or low in both agency and communion. After exposure to either a mortality salience or a control videotape, participants rated the idealness of Hazan and Shaver's (1987) three romantic attachment styles and rated the appeal of romantic involvement. Participants who were high in agency responded to mortality salience with increased endorsement of avoidant attachment, decreased endorsement of secure and anxious-ambivalent attachment, and diminished desire for involvement in a romantic relationship. Participants who were low in communion responded to morality salience with increased endorsement of anxious-ambivalent attachment. The results are discussed in light of research on defense mechanisms, Becker's (1973) theories about the role of romance in symbolic transcendence of death, and terror management theory (Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991).

The purpose of these studies was to examine the relationship between death anxiety and smoking, and to explain the conflicting results of previous studies on this topic. In Study 1, students at a rural university were given a death anxiety scale and a measure of smoking behavior, counterbalanced for order. The same questionnaires were given to urban adolescents in Study 2. When college student smokers thought about their smoking behavior first, those who had smoked more recently showed higher death anxiety. Among high school students who had smoked, those with higher death anxiety reported smoking fewer cigarettes. In addition, mortality salience, induced by completing the death anxiety scale first, caused these high school students to report smoking less frequently. An integration of the results of the two studies with earlier research suggests that order effects and urban-rural differences can explain inconsistencies in the link between death anxiety and smoking.

Studies on the implications of the distinctiveness effect to understand social categorizing indicate that taking a solo status in a group increases the chance of a person being seen in terms of a stereotype. The results confirm the hypothesis that people linked targets more with their distinctive straits than to the non-distinctive traits. People sharing distinctive traits were seen as more similar than others.

The purpose of this study was to explore the links between general and personal mortality salience and nationalistic bias. After watching either a mortality salience or a control videotape, participants read a scenario about a car accident in which the driver was suing either an American or a Japanese auto manufacturer. Results showed that mortality salience produced nationalistic bias in assignments of blame to the company and to the driver; such nationalistic bias did not occur in the control condition. This creation of intergroup bias when mortality was made salient is consistent with the predictions of terror management theory. This study makes an important theoretical contribution by providing evidence that the observed effects are driven by thoughts of personal mortality; the bias in favor of American auto companies occurred only among participants who reported thinking about their own deaths., Human beings have the perhaps unique capability of contemplating their own deaths. The emotions resulting from this contemplation have been placed at the root of much of human social behavior [...]

The polyphagous shot hole borer (PSHB), Euwallacea sp., was first detected in 2003 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. Recently, this invasive species has become a major pest of many hardwood trees in urban and wildland forests throughout southern California. PSHB is nearly identical in morphology and life history to the tea shot hole borer (TSHB), Euwallacea fornicatus, an invasive pest of hardwoods in Florida, USA and many other parts of the world. However, molecular studies have suggested that the taxa are different species. We conducted morphometric and chemical analyses of the phenotypes of Euwallacea sp. collected in southern California (Los Angeles County) and E. fornicatus collected in Florida (Miami-Dade County). Our analyses indicated that PSHB has 3 larval instars. The third larval instar was separated from the first 2 instars by head capsule width with 0 probability of misclassification. The body length, head width, and pronotal width of PSHB adult males were significantly less than those of females. Head width and pronotal width of female PSHB were significantly less than those of female TSHB. In contrast, body length, and ratio of body length to pronotal width of female PSHB were significantly greater than those of female TSHB. However, females of these 2 species could not be separated completely by these 4 measurements because of the overlapping ranges. Cuticular hydrocarbons detected in both species were exclusively alkanes (i.e., n-alkanes, monomethylalkanes, dimethylalkanes, and trimethylalkanes). Cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of PSHB males and females were similar, but they both differed from that of TSHB females. Cuticular hydrocarbons of PSHB were predominantly internally branched dimethylalkanes with backbones of 31 and 33 carbons, whereas cuticular hydrocarbons of TSHB females were dominated by internally branched monomethylalkanes and dimethylalkanes with backbones of 28 and 29 carbons. Multiple compounds within these classes appear to be diagnostic for PSHB and TSHB, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the existence of Chrysobothris analis LeConte, a beetle specie, in California which is determined through trapping surveys conducted on English walnut orchard Juglans regia L. from 2009 until 2015. Chrysobothris were not detected during the long-term surveys which suggests on its low population density or its recent occurence in the area.