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Termite Rap Sheet
| Name: |
Termite (Arboreal/Mound) |
| AKA: |
Cruncher, Terminator |
| Scientific Name: |
Nasutitermes costalis |
| Description: |
Bodies are ant-like in appearance with a light-reddish-brown,
wrinkled head and a black body; six legged; compound eyes and chewing mouth parts;
mandibles do not have teeth. The workers are dimorphic having large
and small forms. Workers and soldiers are blind. During the winged stage
there are 2 pairs of wings of equal size that are slightly longer than the
body. |
| Diet: |
Wood and occasionally other cellulose materials. They
eat wood in houses, utility poles, trees and any wood that is near the ground. Termites
can not digest the cellulose directly. They have other microorganisms (protozoans
and bacteria) in their stomachs that help break down the cellulose
which then can be digested by the termites own metabolism. Termites also
groom each other, thereby eating cast skins and feces of the members of
the colony. They also clean up the colony by eating dead individuals. |
| Habitat: |
This ant-like termite builds mound nests on the ground,
in trees or wood structures. Their colonies can have from 500,000 to a million individuals.
To reach cellulose containing materials, such as wood in a house,
they often form tubes along surfaces within which they can crawl. This
helps protect them from being exposed to dry conditions. Only one or a few
individuals within a colony reproduce. All other colony members carry
out other basic tasks such as to rear the offspring, to defend the colony
against invaders and to forage. Individuals are morphologically
differentiated into distinct forms or castes - reproductives, workers,
and soldiers. Each performs a separate biological function. Only the
reproductives are winged (4 wings). The vast majority in the colony
is the worker caste. The workers and the reproductives have chewing mouthparts
especially adapted for chewing wood. Workers do the most wide-spread
destruction. Sterile females become workers, building nests, enclosed
foraging trails, feeding larvae and other castes. Sterile males become
soldiers, with a pointed proboscis that shoots a sticky defensive
compound. The soldiers have powerful mandibles to attack and dismember its enemies
(usually ants). Reproductives are produced and released once a year
after the first heavy rain in the fall. |
| Wanted For: |
Causing serious damage to wooden structures. Because
termites eat wood from within they often go undetected. In warm climates it is said that
a house can be reduced to a pile of termite waste in 2-3 years if left untreated.
Although termites are extremely destructive they are one of nature's
recyclers, cleaning up plant and wood debris and converting them to
soil components. |
| Last Known Location: |
In a dead tree or possibly in your walls! |
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