Termites

Termite Facts (for eastern subterranean termites or Formosan termites)

<ul>
<li>Termites are one of the few animals able to utilize wood/cellulose as a food source.</li>
<li>Termites have symbiotic protozoa and other microbes in their gut that digest cellulose.</li>
<li>Eastern subterranean termites are native termites that occur throughout the eastern United States.</li>
<li>Eastern subterranean termites occur in all 82 counties of Mississippi.</li>
<li>Mature eastern subterranean termite colonies contain around 50,000 to 200,000+ termites.</li>
<li>Formosan termites are non-native termites, first detected in Mississippi in 1984.</li>
<li>Formosan termites are currently known to occur in 25 counties in Mississippi.</li>
<li>Formosan termite colonies can contain more than one million termites, but are usually smaller.</li>
<li>Unlike ants and bees, termite workers may be either male or female.</li>
<li>Male reproductive termites are known as kings.</li>
<li>Unlike ants and bees, king termites live inside the colony with the queen.</li>
<li>Primary termite queens and kings may live 10 to 15 years or longer.</li>
<li>An established termite queen may lay more than 1000 eggs per day.</li>
<li>Older termite colonies may also contain secondary and tertiary reproductive termites.</li>
<li>Total egg production of secondary and tertiary reproductives may exceed that of the queen.</li>
<li>Eastern subterranean termites are beneficial to southern forests, helping decompose dead trees.</li>
<li>Termite workers do not have eyes; they are sightless.</li>
<li>Termites reproduce by producing winged reproductive termites, known as swarmers.</li>
<li>Swarmers leave the parent colony, find a mate, and attempt to start a new colony elsewhere.</li>
<li>Swarmers shed their wings shortly after swarming.</li>
<li>It takes a termite colony around five years or more to grow large enough to produce swarmers.</li>
<li>Fire ants readily prey on termite swarmers attempting to found new colonies.</li>
<li>Termites forage primarily in the top six to twelve inches of soil.</li>
<li>Termites forage randomly by tunneling through soil and over stone until they encounter wood.</li>
<li>Once they encounter a food source, workers recruit others to the source and begin feeding.</li>
<li>Older termite colonies do not have a single, central nest.</li>
<li>A mature termite colony will have many different “nest sites” (places where eggs are laid).</li>
<li>An average suburban landscape will contain several different termite colonies (up to 25/acre).</li>
<li>Finding eastern subterranean termite swarmers indoors is a sure sign the building is infested.</li>
<li>Buildings that are not properly protected from termites will become infested by termites.</li>
</ul>

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<p><em>Dr. Blake Layton, Extension Entomology Specialist<br>
Department of Entomology, Mississippi State University&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>
Phone: 662-325-2960<br>
Email: <a href="mailto:blake.layton@msstate.edu">blake.layton@msstate.edu</a></em></p&gt;