ISOPTERA: TERMITES
Definition
- Small sized, soft bodied, usually blind. Wings only in reproductive adults: the two pairs of wings are almost identical (iso = same, ptera = wings).
- Living as socially organized colonies, with long-lived reproductive queen and king, and large numbers of larval or infertile workers, both male and female. There can be soldiers with large heads who specialize on colony defense.
- Biting and chewing mouthparts.
- Incomplete life cycle: egg, larva looking like adults, and then adult.
What they do & where they live
- Avoid light, living underground or inside dead wood; some are famous for creating large rock hard structures above ground made out of earth. They feed on wood and other dead vegetable matter, including the fungi growing on decaying matter.
- A European species was accidentally introduced into south Devon where it is eating away at house timbers and so far has proved impossible to eliminate entirely.
Number of species
- In Britain only one recently introduced species, Reticulitermes lucifugus from southern Europe.
- There is only one other native European species, Kalotermes flavicollis. An American species has become established in Europe. All three feed in timber.
- Worldwide about 2000 species.
It's amazing Some termite queens and kings have been known to live for 50 years.
