Others
Termites
Subterranean termites
Appearance
Four adult castes share the colony. The queen and king are the original winged reproductives. Workers are the most abundant caste and do the timber damage. Soldiers defend the colony. Winged alates leave to start new colonies when outside humidity and temperature match the nest, usually in summer.
Life span
Incomplete metamorphosis: egg, nymph, adult. The queen lays eggs in batches of about 20. A nymph passes through 4–7 moults over roughly 2–3 months. There is no pupal stage. Soldiers and nymphs live 1–2 years. Kings and queens live longer, often over 20 years.
Workers are wingless, blind, and sterile, with a thin cuticle. They stay in tunnels and shelter tubes except when humidity is high or they search for food.
Nymphs may stay nymphs, become soldiers, become winged reproductives, or form functional reproductives in the same colony.
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