Re: Dino-termites (was: Re: Biggest predators)

[Gautam Majumdar <gautam@majumdar.demon.co.uk>]

Ronald Orenstein <ornstn@home.com> wrote
>
>As mound-building termites are considered to be more advanced than the
>humble wood-chewing variety, my question is whether termite mounds existed
>in the Cretaceous?  

Termite mound has been reported from Jurassic. A 230 MY old termite nest
was  found  in the Petrified Forest National Park in USA. The termite nest is
very similar  to  that build by the extant family Hodotermitidae. The structure 
of
the nest is  primitive but large enough to be comparable to those of  the
extant  but  primitive  termites.

See :

Ingram M, Early division of labour, Earth (November) 1993; 2 (6): 16 

Gautam Majumdar                 gautam@majumdar.demon.co.uk