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Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Entomology Today, a project of the Entomological Society of America with the goal of reporting interesting discoveries in the world of insect science and news from various entomological societies. To learn more, visit www. entomologytoday.org.

If, like some creatures on this Earth, you had to periodically shed your skin, would you prefer to do that out in public or in the privacy of your own home?

If you’d choose the latter, then congratulations—you have at least one thing in common with a termite.

In a study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, researchers at the University of Florida found that worker-caste Formosan subterranean termites (Coptotermes formosanus) have a strong urge to return to their central nest when it’s time to molt. This habit was not previously understood, according to the study’s lead author Garima Kakkar, Ph.D., given the difficulty of studying termites’ underground behavior, and it’s also an advance in understanding why baits using chitin synthesis inhibitors (CSIs) have proven successful in eliminating termite colonies.

“Because CSIs kill termites during ecdysis [molting], our finding suggests that CSI-affected termites die in the central nest near the reproductives and brood,” Kakkar says. “This would prevent termites from dying near bait stations that may result in bait aversion.”

STUDY OVERVIEW. Kakkar and her adviser, Nan-Yao Su, Ph.D., constructed a nest habitat for a Coptotermes formosanus colony that included both a central nesting area as well as foraging sites connected to the central nest by 15 meters of coiled tubes.

Researchers in Su’s lab have been refining CSI baits since their inception about 20 years ago, and speeding up their efficacy is one goal. CSIs specifically work by killing the termites during their molting process; so, as long as CSI-baited termites still obey their compulsion to molt in the central nest, any formulations that would accelerate that process should remain effective.

“We hypothesize that molting workers in a colony would still exhibit the molt-site fidelity when baited with CSI. In a follow-up study, we have tested if workers would die in (their) central nest when attempting to molt under the effect of CSI. That publication is in the pipeline,” Kakkar says.

In the current study, a large portion of non-molting workers were found in the nest area, as many of them are tasked with nest maintenance, grooming eggs and feeding larvae. Previous research, meanwhile, has shown that an average of 1.7 percent of termite workers in a colony molt each day. The discovery that foraging workers return to the nest to molt suggests that they might trade roles with workers in the nest, Kakkar and colleagues write. They also speculate that the reasons for returning to the nest to molt could include simply seeking safety during a vulnerable time to feeding the queen the workers’ shedded layers (exuviae), which contain much-needed nitrogen. “We are also currently testing a couple hypotheses to examine its biological significance — i.e., why do they have to go back to central nest to molt?” Kakkar says.