SUBTERRANEAN TERMITE (Reticulitermes) Kollar

Biology

• Swarmers are about 3/8 inch in length, including the length of wings.

• The body is dark brown to black in color.

• A frontal gland pore (fontanelle) is present.

• Wings have 2 visible veins, dark in color.

• Wings are primarily translucent to a smoky color.

• The soldiers head is a rectangular shape.

• Soldiers length is usually 1.5 times its width.

Distribution/Habits

• Most common and widely distributed termites in North America.

• These termites eat mostly spring wood.

• The damaged wood looks layered and soil is found in the galleries.

• Colonies are located in the ground, but if a water source is available, a colony can exist above ground with no ground contact.

• A typical colony contains 60,000 to 1 million workers.

• Swarming occurs during the morning, usually after a rain.

• Mud tubes bridge the gap between the colony and above ground food sources.

Click play above to watch a short video of termites in action

Sometimes ants are confused with termites. They can look similar to the untrained eye. Most people are unaware that reproductive ants can and do have wings adding to the confusion. See the drawings below for the major physical differences between ants and termites.

Termites are social insects with several types of individuals in a colony, each type serving the colony in a different way. Winged reproductive forms swarm from mature colonies to disperse and establish new colonies. Worker termites, the ones that damage wood by eating the springwood layers, are white and soft-bodied; they feed the other forms in the colony and expand the nest size. Soldier termites with enlarged mandibles (teeth) are responsible for protecting the colony from intruders.

Termites need wood for food and soil for moisture. Wood in contact with soil, then, is ideal for termite development. But if this does not occur, the insects may build "shelter tubes" from mud to bridge or span foundation walls and other masonry that separate wood from soil. They construct these tubes on the walls or inside them in voids and cracks.