Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann, 1896)

Fornazier, M. J., Martins, D. S., Fanton, C. J. & Benassi, V. L. R. M., 2019, INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT IN CONILON COFFEE, Conilon coffee - The Coffea canephora produced in Brazil, Vitória, ES, Brasil: Incaper - Capixaba Institute for Research, Technical Assistance and Rural Extension, pp. 493-533 : 2034-2035

Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann, 1896)

(= C. havilandi Holmgren ) (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae )

Termites cover more than 2 thousand species described in the world, and in Brazil, there are about 200 species. Although the importance of termites is known worldwide, especially in relation to the Neotropical regions fauna, little or no attention has been given to numerically estimating their populations and behavioral habits (foraging). Studies on biology, ecology and population dynamics have been conducted almost everywhere in the world, however our country, one of the largest places where the Isoptera order occurs, needs basic and applied studies.

Also known as Philippine milk termite, it can be found mainly in urban areas, it primarily attacks wood and building furniture, but it does not attack only dead wood. The species reaches many living plant tissues such as avocados, white angicos, cashew trees, sugarcane, casuarina trees, eucalyptus, imperial palm trees, ironwoods, oiti, cork trees and several other plants in urban and rural areas. It was reported for the first time by Mattos et al. (2001) in attack on conilon coffee roots in a rural area in the northern region of Espírito Santo.

Unlike mound building termites, they construct their colonies in inaccessible places and have the habit of foraging underground. They attack the roots of conilon coffee from newly planted seedlings to plants about two years old, leading to their fall. Attacks of this pest can lead to the plants death, including the oldest ones, with destruction of the roots and heartwood. The symptoms of its attack can be confused with nutritional deficiency or attack of other subterranean pests, being necessary the careful uprooting of the plants and roots examination to verify its occurrence.