J. Appl. Entomol.

First records of urban invasive Cryptotermes brevis (Isoptera:

Kalotermitidae) in continental Spain and Portugal
L. Nunes1, M. Gaju2, J. Krecek3, R. Molero2, M. Teresa Ferreira3 & C. B. de Roca4
1 Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, Timber Structures Division, Lisbon, Portugal
2 Department of Zoology, University of Cordoba, Campus de Rabanales, Cordoba, Spain
3 Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
4 Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, Biosciences Faculty, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra (Barcelona),
Spain

Keywords
Cryptotermes brevis, Iberian Peninsula,
invasive biota
Correspondence
Lina Nunes (corresponding author),
Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, Av
do Brasil 101, 1700-066 Lisboa, Portugal.
E-mail: linanunes@lnec.pt
Abstract
Occurrence of the West Indian drywood termite, Cryptotermes brevis, is
registered for the first time as established populations in Barcelona
(Spain) and also additional information is given regarding a recent
record from Lisbon (Portugal). This serious invasive termite pest was
detected in five buildings in Barcelona, Spain and one building in Lis-
bon, Portugal.

Received: July 9, 2009; accepted: November

11, 2009.

doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0418.2009.01490.x

Nevertheless, a vast majority of C. brevis current

Introduction
The West Indian drywood termite, Cryptotermes
brevis (Walker) belongs to a genus which has been
recognized for a long time from many geographic
regions as a causer of frequent infestations on wood
in service, structural and decorative timbers,
presumably mainly due to its ability to survive with
low moisture contents. The species is insidious since
the infestations may remain unnoticed for quite a
long time and the colonies are small, but
with strong tendency to reinfestations by seasonal
swarmers.
An extensive taxonomic, pest status and biogeo-
graphic history of this species has been recently pre-
sented by Scheffrahn (2005) and Scheffrahn et al.
(2009), including the finding of this species for the
first time in outdoor woodland environments, in
Chile and Peru, leading the authors to validate their
initial hypotheses that ‘the endemic habitat of C. bre-
vis lies within the Pacific coastal desert of South
America’.
distribution range is based on a secondary, intro-
duced origin. A last account of this species distribu-
tion (Scheffrahn 2005) indicates about 70 countries
in all continents except for ‘termite-free’ Antarctica.
In Europe, several references are available reporting
isolated surviving infestation episodes mainly related
to the transport of wooden artefacts from central
and south America, namely in England where C. bre-
vis presence was referenced twice (Gay 1969) and in
Berlin, Germany (Becker and Kny 1977). Recently,
two other records were described as apparently well
established infestations in Genova (Raineri et al.
2001) and Padova (Fontana and Buzzetti 2003) in
northern Italy.
Well established populations of C. brevis have been
quoted for years on the Mediterranean Islands of
Italy (Liotta 2005), in Canary Islands (Martinez
1957; Koeller 1973) and on Madeira and Porto Santo
(Mateus and Goes 1953).
In 2002, C. brevis was taxonomically identified for
the first time in the Portuguese islands of Azores

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Iberian Cryptotermes
based on alates and wings, which had been noted by
a number of people in the previous years without
clear recognition of their accurate identity. Conse-
quently, an assessment of the situation on the sev-
eral islands of the Azorean archipelago has already
begun and so far well established populations of this
pest termite were found in the Islands of S. Miguel,
Terceira, Faial and Santa Maria (Myles et al. 2007;
Nunes 2008).
To date, no authenticated record of an occurrence
of C. brevis in the Iberian Peninsula is known,
though several authors repeat apparently the same
unconfirmed information regarding its occurrence in
the Mediterranean mainland coast (Anon, 1980
(map spot), Edwards and Mill 1986; Gerini 1992;
Koeller 1973; Pearce 1997) somewhere in the Valen-
cia area but without any locality indication and
mentioning Torres Juan (1968) as reference. Never-
theless, Torres Juan (1968) only refers the presence
of C. brevis in the Canary Islands that being a Span-
ish territory might have led to misinterpretations.
Scheffrahn et al. (2009) justify an absence of C.bre-
vis in Southern Europe and in particular in the Ibe-
rian Peninsula by assuming that climatic conditions
are the limiting factor as the postulated endemic
climate of C. brevis is unusually stable and humid
with very low levels of rainfall (Scheffrahn et al.
2009). Indeed, limiting climatic conditions would
seem to be the most probable explanation of the
absence recorded to date as the building tradition in
both countries under consideration involves the use
of a considerable amount of wood and the normal
trade between continental and island parts of Portu-
gal and Spain as well as between the main ports of
the Iberian peninsula and most central and south
American ports would be an easy pathway for
termite introduction incidents.
The origin and dating of infestations in Madeira
and Canaries is not yet fully explained though dat-
ing back to the 1940/50s. In the case of the Azores
some relation could be found to the extensive
Table 1 Locations and description of the attack
Year1 Location
2005/2006 Spain, Barcelona Calle Viladomat
2007 Calle Mallorca
2008 Calle Parlement
2008 Calle Valencia
2009 Calle Granada del Penedès
2008 Portugal, Lisboa Rua da Junqueira
1
Year when alates were found for the first time.
2 ª 2009 Blackwell Verlag, GmbH
L. Nunes et al.
rebuilding that was carried out in Angra do Hero-
ismo (Terceira) following a major earthquake in
December 1980 (Nunes 2008).
Materials and Methods
The reference specimens used for the present paper
were initially collected by two pest control compa-
nies in both Spain and Portugal (Ibertrac S. L. and
Xiloquı́mica, Produtos para Madeira Lda.) from sites
inspected in Barcelona and Lisbon, respectively. The
identification was done by comparison with earlier
voucher specimens present at the University of
Barcelona, the Florida termite collection in Fort Lau-
derdale (USA) and The National Civil Engineering
Laboratory (LNEC) in Lisbon. The keys by Bacchus
(1987) and Scheffrahn and Krecek (1999) were also
used. For C. brevis an absence of arolia and variable
median vein pathway are diagnostic.
In Barcelona, the specimens were detected and
consequently identified, in five multi-floor buildings,
from 2005 to 2009, as presented in Table 1. Each
infested building was isolated from others by a series
of buildings where the pest was not detected. One of
the buildings was thoroughly inspected for C. brevis
damage and in situ damage of the pine timber
applied in the ceiling structures of higher apartments
was particularly noted. The lower parts of the build-
ing seem to be free from signs of degradation by
C. brevis. Currently, Ibertrac S.L. had undertaken an
eradication program in all infested buildings. The
presence of alates has been recorded yearly in the
infested buildings.
The specimens studied comprised alates and pseu-
dergates; voucher material is deposited in the Florida
University termite collection in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, USA and in the Autonomous University of
Barcelona (Department of Animal Biology – Zool-
ogy), Barcelona, Spain.
In Lisbon, specimens were collected in 2008 from
one multi-floor building in the Junqueira area
Description
Roof structures, interior carpentry, furniture
Interior paneling
Roof beams, floor boards, furniture
Floor boards
Roof beams, floor boards
Roof and floors structural timbers and floor boards
L. Nunes et al. Iberian Cryptotermes

(Table 1). The infested building was positively
inspected for C. brevis presence and in situ damage of
the applied timber (Pinus pinaster Ait.) was found at
all levels from the ground floor up to the roof timber
structure. Currently, part of the infested wood floor-
ing of the upper apartments was removed and
eradication measures were initiated including the
treatment by injection of all accessible timbers. Nev-
ertheless, the presence of alates was registered again
in 2009.
Voucher specimens (alates, soldiers and pseuder-
gates) are deposited at the Museu de História Natu-
ral, Department of Entomology, University of
Lisbon.
All buildings where termites were detected were
in central neighbourhoods of Barcelona and Lisbon,
and within 2–3 km from the coastal line, therefore
close to harbours.
Results and Discussion
All collected samples belong to Cryptotermes brevis
and these are the first undoubtful records of its
occurrence in continental Spain and Portugal.
Cryptotermes brevis is strongly ecologically charac-
terized by its distinct and frequent tendency to pas-
sive accidental and occasional spreading within host
wood and by its strong synanthropic affinity, practi-
Taking into account the recent finding of well
established populations of C. brevis in two locations
of the Iberian Peninsula, TDP ratios were again cal-
culated for these and several other locations covering
most of the climate zones of Portugal and Spain
(Table 2). Locations in Canary Islands, the Azores
and Madeira Archipelagos were also included. The
climatic data for these calculations was obtained as
before from http://www.weatherbase.com.
Considering a risk of new infestations events,
along with some evaluation of the consequences of
such situation (Bartell and Nair 2003), the climatic
conditions in Lisbon and Barcelona, with TDP of 2.7
and 2.8 respectively, based on previous experience
(Scheffrahn et al. 2009) are not favourable of an
establishment of new populations but occurred and
they are supposedly well established and viable and
monitor and control approaches are indispensable as
well as replacement of damaged wood. So for the
invasive C. brevis at a range of TDP may be some-
times higher than initially proposed, presumably
together with more of specific and favourable micro-
climatic conditions for an introduction.
Table 2 Mean annual temperatures, dew points (C) and tempera-
ture/dew point ratio in several cities in Portugal and Spain with and
without C. brevis

cally exclusivity. This species exhibits incredibly wide

Mean T High T Low T Dew Pt. TDP ratio
range of secondary, human responsible dispersion
(Scheffrahn 2005), exceeding any another termite Portugal
species. Bragança 10 16 5 5 6.40
Its acclimatization and colonization of new areas Évora 15 20 10 7 4.29
appears extremely easy and frequent, for its notice- Faro 17 21 13 11 2.50
able ecological preadaptation and predestination for Funchal, Madeira 18 20 16 13 1.73
environmental conditions ruling in and specific for Horta, Azores 17 19 13 14 1.77
Lisbon 16 20 12 10 2.67
human dwellings especially in many tropical and
P. Delgada, Azores 17 18 15 13 1.52
subtropical regions which are characterized by mild Porto 14 18 10 10 2.52
and balanced temperature and relative humidity of P. Santo, Madeira 18 20 16 13 1.73
air (Scheffrahn et al. 2009). Sta. Maria, Azores 17 20 15 13 1.74
To make comparisons among locations with (34) Spain
and without (30) termites Scheffrahn et al. (2009) Barcelona 15 19 11 10 2.59
used the ratio between mean average temperatures Bilbao 15 18 10 8 3.38
La Coruna 14 16 11 10 2.04
and dew point (TDP ratio) by multiplying the mean
Las Palmas, Canary Is. 20 22 17 13 1.99
temperature by the temperature range ratio and Madrid 13 20 7 6 6.19
dividing the product by the dew point. Based on Málaga 17 22 13 11 2.62
the know distribution an optimum range of TDP for Santa Cruz, Tenerife 20 24 17 12 2.35
C. brevis establishment was postulated to be Santander 14 16 12 10 1.87
between about 1.4 and 2.2. TDP above 2.5 appear Sevilla 18 25 12 10 3.75
to indicate locations without adequate conditions Valencia 17 21 12 10 2.98
Zaragoza 15 20 9 7 4.76
for C. brevis establishment. In particular, Lisbon,
with a calculated TDP of 2.7 was considered in the Climatic data from http://www.weatherbase.com;
later group. Cities marked in bold when C. brevis occurrence has been recorded.

ª 2009 Blackwell Verlag, GmbH 3

Iberian Cryptotermes L. Nunes et al.

Publicaciones del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia,

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