Two of the World’s Worst Termites Hooked Up in Florida—and Now We’re Screwed
-
In October 2024, the researchers discovered a full-blown hybrid colony in a Fort Lauderdale park, which had likely been active for more than five years before being detected. Chouvenc said that there are likely many more hundreds of colonies across South Florida that have not yet been found.
Both parent species are prolific breeders, capable of forming massive colonies and spreading rapidly. The fact that these hybrids are swarming—and potentially just as fertile—raises major red flags.
Fort Lauderdale’s status as a global boating hub may accelerate the spread. “This may be a Florida story now, but it likely won’t stay just in Florida,” Chouvenc warned. Private boats have previously been implicated in termite spread across the U.S. and internationally.
Two of the World’s Worst Termites Hooked Up in Florida—and Now We’re Screwed
Scientists have confirmed that two invasive termite species are interbreeding, creating a destructive new hybrid that could spread across the U.S.
Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)
University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) report that the Formosan subterranean termite and the Asian subterranean termite are crossbreeding and producing viable offspring in South Florida neighborhoods.
Woops
-
In October 2024, the researchers discovered a full-blown hybrid colony in a Fort Lauderdale park, which had likely been active for more than five years before being detected. Chouvenc said that there are likely many more hundreds of colonies across South Florida that have not yet been found.
Both parent species are prolific breeders, capable of forming massive colonies and spreading rapidly. The fact that these hybrids are swarming—and potentially just as fertile—raises major red flags.
Fort Lauderdale’s status as a global boating hub may accelerate the spread. “This may be a Florida story now, but it likely won’t stay just in Florida,” Chouvenc warned. Private boats have previously been implicated in termite spread across the U.S. and internationally.
Two of the World’s Worst Termites Hooked Up in Florida—and Now We’re Screwed
Scientists have confirmed that two invasive termite species are interbreeding, creating a destructive new hybrid that could spread across the U.S.
Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)
US needs just an executive order for termites to stop interbreeding.
-
In October 2024, the researchers discovered a full-blown hybrid colony in a Fort Lauderdale park, which had likely been active for more than five years before being detected. Chouvenc said that there are likely many more hundreds of colonies across South Florida that have not yet been found.
Both parent species are prolific breeders, capable of forming massive colonies and spreading rapidly. The fact that these hybrids are swarming—and potentially just as fertile—raises major red flags.
Fort Lauderdale’s status as a global boating hub may accelerate the spread. “This may be a Florida story now, but it likely won’t stay just in Florida,” Chouvenc warned. Private boats have previously been implicated in termite spread across the U.S. and internationally.
Two of the World’s Worst Termites Hooked Up in Florida—and Now We’re Screwed
Scientists have confirmed that two invasive termite species are interbreeding, creating a destructive new hybrid that could spread across the U.S.
Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)
I saw a solution to this and many other problems on the television the other day:
-
In October 2024, the researchers discovered a full-blown hybrid colony in a Fort Lauderdale park, which had likely been active for more than five years before being detected. Chouvenc said that there are likely many more hundreds of colonies across South Florida that have not yet been found.
Both parent species are prolific breeders, capable of forming massive colonies and spreading rapidly. The fact that these hybrids are swarming—and potentially just as fertile—raises major red flags.
Fort Lauderdale’s status as a global boating hub may accelerate the spread. “This may be a Florida story now, but it likely won’t stay just in Florida,” Chouvenc warned. Private boats have previously been implicated in termite spread across the U.S. and internationally.
Two of the World’s Worst Termites Hooked Up in Florida—and Now We’re Screwed
Scientists have confirmed that two invasive termite species are interbreeding, creating a destructive new hybrid that could spread across the U.S.
Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)
But is this hybrid then an even faster breeder, massiver colony maker, rapidlier spreader? Or maybe we’ll get lucky and turns out they are kinda lazy
-
But is this hybrid then an even faster breeder, massiver colony maker, rapidlier spreader? Or maybe we’ll get lucky and turns out they are kinda lazy
If the hybrid population is fertile, it has at least as much survival fitness as the “best” of the parents. But probably more because it can couple advantageous traits from both for that environment.
So, in this case, it’s better to be pessimistic: they’ll be probably fast breeders, massive colony makers and rapid spreaders, since all those traits would help them to spread further.
-
In October 2024, the researchers discovered a full-blown hybrid colony in a Fort Lauderdale park, which had likely been active for more than five years before being detected. Chouvenc said that there are likely many more hundreds of colonies across South Florida that have not yet been found.
Both parent species are prolific breeders, capable of forming massive colonies and spreading rapidly. The fact that these hybrids are swarming—and potentially just as fertile—raises major red flags.
Fort Lauderdale’s status as a global boating hub may accelerate the spread. “This may be a Florida story now, but it likely won’t stay just in Florida,” Chouvenc warned. Private boats have previously been implicated in termite spread across the U.S. and internationally.
Two of the World’s Worst Termites Hooked Up in Florida—and Now We’re Screwed
Scientists have confirmed that two invasive termite species are interbreeding, creating a destructive new hybrid that could spread across the U.S.
Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)
They don’t even say why they are the “worst termites”. What makes them worse than others?
-
They don’t even say why they are the “worst termites”. What makes them worse than others?
-
According to this article, they’ve already hybridized in Taiwan, too, so it might be too late, but I’m not going to stop you from dumping Florida into the Gulf of America
-
The actual article is linked right there on the page
-
US needs just an executive order for termites to stop interbreeding.
Unfortunately vermin from Florida run the country now, I don’t think they will take action against their own.
-
In October 2024, the researchers discovered a full-blown hybrid colony in a Fort Lauderdale park, which had likely been active for more than five years before being detected. Chouvenc said that there are likely many more hundreds of colonies across South Florida that have not yet been found.
Both parent species are prolific breeders, capable of forming massive colonies and spreading rapidly. The fact that these hybrids are swarming—and potentially just as fertile—raises major red flags.
Fort Lauderdale’s status as a global boating hub may accelerate the spread. “This may be a Florida story now, but it likely won’t stay just in Florida,” Chouvenc warned. Private boats have previously been implicated in termite spread across the U.S. and internationally.
Two of the World’s Worst Termites Hooked Up in Florida—and Now We’re Screwed
Scientists have confirmed that two invasive termite species are interbreeding, creating a destructive new hybrid that could spread across the U.S.
Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)
‘Florida termite’ could be the start of many a great news story, followed by a mugshot of the disheveled and remorseful arthropod.
![Lvxferre [he/him]](https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/333d03a0-bcae-434b-a8d1-7dfd18962d20.jpeg "Lvxferre [he/him]"){kind=avatar}