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Metamorphoses: simple North American Families: 4 North American Species: 42 |
Isoptera
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Description: Termites are small to medium sized insects, soft-bodied and light-coloured. Most termites are wingless but fully winged adults have two pairs of long, narrow membranous wings that are alike in shape. When winged adults are at rest the wings are held flat over the body and extend beyond the tip of the abdomen. The antennae are long and beadlike. Termites have chewing mouthparts. |
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| Comments: Termites live in highly developed social colonies with a caste system. Kings and queens are fully winged and darker in colour. A queen sometimes lives for several years, laying thousands of eggs. Termite colonies produce large numbers of kings and queens at certain parts of the year. These reproductives leave the colony in a swarm, mate, and the pairs then establish new colonies. After mating they usually shed their wings. Workers are wingless, pale, sterile males and females. They perform most of the work in the colony, caring for the nest and the other termites. Soldiers are sterile wingless adults with an enlarged head and mandibles. The soldiers defend the colony from predators and other intruders by either attacking them with their large mandibles or sparying them with a defensive chemical. Most termites live in moist subterranean habitats, but some live in dry habitats above ground. | |||
Families in this Order |
 Rhinotermitidae: Subterranean and damp-wood termites Size: 6 to 8 mm |
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