Abstract
Reticulitermes species are subterranean termites which are found in natural and urban area in Europe. Because of their cryptic life, it is difficult to analyze colony sizes and constructions elaborated in soil and/or pieces of wood, i.e., numbers of chambers, structures elaborated in mud inside the wood, etc. By using X-rays tomography, a non invasive medical imaging technique, we were able to perform an original study on these different parameters in the lab. We analyzed wood consumption strategies (volumes of wood eaten, kinetic of consumption, how termites colonized the piece of wood) and building behaviour by two termite species, Reticulitermes grassei and R. santonensis