The main reason for nuptial flight in termites is to

Step 1: Analyze the question "Nuptial" comes from the word nuptials, which means marriage or mating. So a nuptial flight is a mating flight. The question asks about its main purpose in termites.

Step 2: Explain the concept In a termite colony, most members are workers and soldiers, which are sterile. At certain times of the year, usually at the start of the rainy season, the colony produces winged reproductive males and females called alates. These alates:

1. Leave the colony in large swarms (the nuptial flight).
2. Mate in the air or soon after landing.
3. Shed their wings after landing.
4. Pair up and burrow into the soil or wood to start a new colony, with the female becoming the queen and the male the king.

You may have seen swarms of winged termites around lights after the first rains in Nigeria. That is the nuptial flight.

Step 3: Evaluate the options

• A. Escape unfavourable conditions: This describes migration, not nuptial flight.
• B. Search for food: Workers forage for food, not the alates on a nuptial flight.
• C. Form new colonies: Correct. The flight allows mating and dispersal so that new colonies can be founded.
• D. Communicate with one another: Termites communicate mainly through chemicals (pheromones) and touch, and this is not the purpose of the flight.

Step 4: Answer The correct option is C. form new colonies.

Exam tip: Whenever you see "nuptial", think mating, which leads to reproduction and the start of a new colony. The same idea applies to the nuptial flight of honey bees, where the queen mates with drones.