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Background  Undertaking behavior is a significant adaptation to social life in enclosed nests. Workers are known to remove dead colony members from the nest. Such behavior prevents the spread of pathogens that may be detrimental to a colony. To date, little is known about the ethological aspects of how termites deal with carcasses.    Methodology and Principal Findings  In this study, we tested the responses to carcasses of four species from different subterranean termite taxa:  Coptotermes formosanus  Shiraki and  Reticulitermes speratus  (Kolbe) (lower termites) and  Microcerotermes crassus  Snyder and  Globitermes sulphureus  Haviland (higher termites). We also used different types of carcasses (freshly killed, 1-, 3-, and 7-day-old, and oven-killed carcasses) and mutilated nestmates to investigate whether the termites exhibited any behavioral responses that were specific to carcasses in certain conditions. Some behavioral responses were performed specifically on certain types of carcasses or mutilated termites.  C. formosanus  and  R. speratus  exhibited the following behaviors: (1) the frequency and time spent in antennating, grooming, and carcass removal of freshly killed, 1-day-old, and oven-killed carcasses were high, but these behaviors decreased as the carcasses aged; (2) the termites repeatedly crawled under the aging carcass piles; and (3) only newly dead termites were consumed as a food source. In contrast,  M. crassus  and  G. sulphureus  workers performed relatively few behavioral acts. Our results cast a new light on the previous notion that termites are necrophobic in nature.    Conclusion  We conclude that the behavioral response towards carcasses depends largely on the nature of the carcasses and termite species, and the response is more complex than was previously thought. Such behavioral responses likely are associated with the threat posed to the colony by the carcasses and the feeding habits and nesting ecology of a given species.

Do Termites Avoid Carcasses? Behavioral Responses Depend on the Nature of the Carcasses