ENTOMOLOGY TODAY - In southern California, subterranean termites in the genus Reticulitermes are a common scourge, responsible for significant economic damage in that part of the state. Early studies of these termites indicated that only two pest species existed—Reticulitermes hesperus and Reticulitermes tibialis.
However, a 2023 study by Chow-Yang Lee, Ph.D., endowed presidential chair in urban entomology at the University of California, Riverside, and his fellow researchers suggested that there could be as many as four undescribed species of Reticulitermes in California, one additional to southern California.
In a study published in July in Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Lee and colleagues confirmed the existence of an undescribed species of subterranean termite in Southern California, which they’ve named Reticulitermes rusti. The study was led by Joanne Chen, a Ph.D. candidate in Lee’s lab, joined by fellow researchers from UC Riverside, the U.S. Forest Service, National Taiwan University, and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. The researchers named the new species after retired UC Riverside professor Michael K. Rust, Ph.D., “who has contributed significantly to our knowledge of the biology and management of subterranean termites in southern California for the last 50 years,” they write.