Termite Web

The termite queen is one of the few creatures of the animal kingdom that demonstrate extreme physogastry or the expansion of the abdomen to an extreme size. This phenomenal growth is largely due to distended ovaries and fat deposits inside her abdomen. Some ant queens also display physogastry, but I can’t think of any creature [...]

There are many people who wonder what do termite eggs look like (unlike ants, termites eggs are rarely seen), but generally they all look like tiny translucent white or yellow jelly beans, regardless of species. The first batch laid by the female termite after the royal pair has mated and dug themselves in, is usually [...]

The soldier caste is responsible for defending and protecting the colony from enemies (which are mainly ants). They have protruding jaws and larger, armored heads than the workers, which are often a shade of yellow, orange, brown, or red. The soldiers of some species have snouts instead of jaws in which they squirt a repellent [...]

The worker termites are the main caste of the termite colony. When a new reproductive pair of alates has settled down and the queen has started laying eggs, worker termites are always the first brood to emerge from the eggs. In some species there are 2 (sometimes even 3) size versions; a major variant (which [...]

Termites live in well structured social systems, much like ants. There is a queen, a king, workers, and soldiers. Some species may have several queens and kings, but generally, most colonies are ruled by a single queen and a male king, while the rest of the workers and soldiers are sterile males and females. Unlike [...]