What Is A Termite

In the basic definition, termites are small, burrowing insects that eat wood – especially damp wood – and resemble small white ants. But there’s so much more than that! In actuality, termites are social creatures – just like we are – that live with a specific social order to take care of the colony that they live in.

There are basically five levels of termites: the worker, the soldier, the reproductive, the king, and the queen. Each distinctive level has its own duties when it comes to the colony. The worker termite is the lowest on the totem pole in the termite colony. They are the ones who put out the most effort with the least amount of appreciation and satisfaction in a job well done. It’s a good thing they aren’t humans or there could be an uprising! It’s especially good there’s no little termite union demanding respect for the work they do!

Worker termites have soft, light-colored bodies rarely more than 10 mm long, like grains of rice. They rarely leave the dark tunnels that run from the colony through the soil and into the wooden frames of buildings. Twenty-four hours a day, they forage for food, maintain the nest, and tend the queen and her brood. Juveniles, called nymphs, groom and feed one another and others in the colony.

The next level of the termite colony is the soldier termites. Soldier termites are the defenders of the colony – especially from ants that can come in and destroy the colony. Soldier termites have an orange colored rectangular armored head with mandibulate pinchers which they use to crush member of the ant family - their arch enemy in the insect world.

The Western subterranean termite soldier has a fontanelle (frontal gland pore or hole) on their forehead used to squirt a white sticky latex substance, mainly as a defense mechanism against ants. The soldier termite is usually the first to be seen in large numbers when any active termite workings (mud shelter tubes or damaged timber) are opened. Soldier termites will rush out to guard the opening while worker termites repair the breach.

Here is a picture of a soldier termite:

The next level of termites in the colony would be the termite alarm swarmers and are also known as the reproductives. They are commonly seen when they swarm during daylight; they have eyes; are poor fliers but are swept along by the wind. They land, drop their wings, and find a mate to become king and queen of a new termite colony.

The western subterranean termite swarmers are about 3/8″ long (including wings) with a dark brown body and a small fontanelle (frontal gland pore) on its head. Their wings are brownish grey with two dark solid veins along the forefront of the front wings. The front wing is distinctly larger than hind wing.

In the northern part of their range, swarming takes place in the spring, but without rain. In the southern areas, swarming usually follows rain. The swarmers are emitted in their thousands when a mature termite nest is large and well established.

Here is what a typical swarmer termite looks like:

At the next level in the colony are the king termites. The King termite assists the queen in creating and attending to the colony during its initial formation. He will continue to mate throughout his life to help increase the colony size.

The King’s body will range from ½” to 5/8” long and have two pairs of wings that are equal in size and shape that extend beyond their abdomen. The King termite is slightly smaller than the queen in size and is usually darker in color on the abdomen.

The Queen is the “ruler” of the colony and was once a swarmer or reproductive termite. The Queen termite creates the colony by laying eggs and tending to the colony until enough workers and nymphs are produced to care for the colony. She can live for more than ten years and produce hundreds of eggs each year. Colonies can each several million termites with the help of secondary queens who also produce eggs.

She is slightly longer in length than the King but will still measure somewhere between ½” and 5/8”. Her abdomen is lighter than the King’s and will usually be striped.

Since most people think of termites as small ants, we probably should tell you how to tell the difference between the two. Actually, ants and termites are quite different other than the fact that they are social animals. Here’s how you can tell the difference between the two.

First, ants and termites both have antennae, but the ant’s antennae are elbowed while the termite’s antennae are a simple string of bead-like segments. Ants have eyes while termites do not.

Ants have a waist that falls between the thorax and the abdomen while termites do not. The termite’s abdomen is blunt at the end, but in an ant, the abdomen is pointed at the end.

Here’s a picture of an ant and a termite side by side so that you can see the differences first hand: