Soldiers
These termites protect the colony. They have enlarged jaws called mandibles, which they use to defend the colony. They look like workers, but their heads are enlarged and darker colored than the workers. They comprise only 1 to 3 percent of the foraging termite population.
Swarmers
Reproductives can be primary or secondary. The secondary termites are found in mature colonies and serve as replacements if something happens to the primary reproductives. Winged reproductives (alates) are coal black to pale yellow-brown, flattened and about 1/4 to 3/8 inch long, with pale or smoke-gray to brown wings. Alates are also known as “swarmers.”
Workers
These are the termites that cause most of the damage by eating wood, but they also maintain the colony, build and repair the nest, forage for food, and help care for the young. Workers are the most numerous of the three castes.
Our History
The advent of centrally heated homes has made it possible for termites to become a threat in virtually every region and state in the U.S. On the average, there could be as many as 13 to 14 subterranean termite colonies per acre, which means that a typical home may easily have three to four colonies situated under or around it. And because there can be as many as 1,000,000 subterranean termites per colony, the threat of infestation becomes a very real one indeed.
Subterranean termites cause more damage to homes in U.S. than storms and fire combined. This is why termite extermination is so important.
Subterranean termites nest in the soil to obtain moisture, but they also nest in wood that is often wet. They easily attack any wood in contact with the ground. If the wood does not contact the soil, they can build mud tunnels or tubes to reach wood several feet above the ground. These tunnels can extend for 50-60 feet to reach wood and often enter a structure through expansion joints in concrete slabs or where utilities enter the house.
Winged termites emerging from the ground out-of-doors near the house does not necessarily mean the house is infested, but it is a good reason to check further. Termites in the wood of homes or other buildings usually come from colonies already established in the soil.
Termites are small, ant-like insects. However, they differ from ants in that they feed off the cellulose in wood. Working largely unseen under the surface, they can tunnel through the wooden structural members in buildings and completely destroy them. Wood that comes in contact with the soil, such as the exterior trim or cladding on your home, provides a perfect point of entry for a termite colony.
Termites are social insects that live in colonies where labor is divided among a caste system. They have reproductive and soldier castes. In many termite societies there is also a distinct worker caste, but the typical duties of workers (nest building and food gathering and feeding the reproductives and soldiers) are handled by nymphs as well. Workers and nymphs do all the work, soldier’s sole job is to defend the colony.