EVALUATION OF DOG-ASSISTED SEARCHES AND ELECTRONIC ODOR DEVICES FOR DETECTING THE WESTERN SUBTERRAN
TERMITE (ISOPTERA: RHINOTERMITIDAE)
VERNARD R. LEWIS, CALVIN F. FOUCHE and RICHARD L.
LEMASTER
ABSTRACT
Laboratory blind trails were conducted to evaluate the ability of beagles and an electronic odor device to detect termites in wood. In the 1st test, pine blocks art)ficially infested with either 0, 5, 50, or 200 workers of the western subterranean termite, Reticulitermes hesperus Banks, were randomly presented to five beagles and one electronic odor device. Blocks were presented one-at-a-time to beagles and the electronic odor device. The beagles correctly identified 81% of the blocks while the electronic odor device correctly identified 48%. A 2nd laboratory test comparing five additional electronic odor devices from the same manufacturer resulted in a slightly higher correctly identified value, 62%. Beagles performed best for blocks containing 50 or more termites. However, the percentage of misidentified controls (false positives) for beagles was high, 28%. The electronic odor device did not demonstrate statistically sign)ficant detection ability. Although beagles were almost perfect (49 of 50 blocks) in detecting termites in blocks with 50 or more individuals, neither detection method was reliable with "controls" or low density number of termites. The implications of these findings to use of either of these termite detection methods are discussed.