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By: Ikedi Ani-okoye

Termites

Termites the 7 families and 2,750 species the order lsoptera are never found more than 50 degrees north or south of the Equator. A typical termite is tale, soft, and wingless, with Chewing or biting mandibles and shoa antennae, but different castes within a colony have varying features. The reproductives, including kings and queens, have two pairs of long wings, short cerci, and round or oval heads.

The sterile soldiers have proportionately larger heads than the workers. Eyes are often reduced or Absent. Metamorphosis is incomplete. Termites live in mud nests or vast underground mazes with huge ventilation chimneys above ground. Most eat dead or rotting wood - this is the only order where families digest Cellulose - and many attack crops or wooden building timbers.

Harvester termites

These termites have eyes, and their Mandibles have large, distinct teeth on the inner surfaces. They are cream or light to dark brown in colour. The pronotum is saddle-shaped, extending doyen at the sides.

Eggs are laid in the colony's nest, which may be up to 6m ~20ft under the ground. Workers forage above ground for grass or small bits ofwood to feed the young. Africa and Asia. In regions of dry savannah. In soil. These termites can be pests of open pasture. They may eat the food of larger open pasture. They may eat the food of larger herbivores - both wild animals and domestic cattle - and encourage soil erosion.

Subterranean termites

pronotum of all castes is rounded at the back and may, in some species, appear almost heart-shaped. Soldiers have no eyes. Coloration is cream or light to dark brown. Eggs are laid in the colonies, which are found either in soil or in damp wood. Some species are timber pests. One North American species is such a serious pest chat there are special building regulations to help prevent the damage it can cause.

Higher termites

This highly variable family of pale cream to dark brown termites comprises almost three-quarters of all termites. Workers and soldiers have no eyes, and soldiers often have large, biting mandibles or a snout-like head from which sticky poisons are ejected. Eggs are laid in nests that vary from small structures in trees and soil mounds to vast underground mazes. Some queens are enormous and produce several thousand eggs a day. Worldwide, in tropical and subtropical areas. In varied habitats, in trees or soil. Many higher termites are pests. This family has a more complex, rigid caste system than other, "lower" termites.

True damp wood termites

These termites, pale to dark brown in colour, are also called rotten wood termites. flat pronotum is much narrower than the head. Eggs are laid in nests in decaying wood - usually wood that is in contact with the ground. Alarm regions of North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Mainly in rotting trees or fallen logs. A few species are pests of structural timbers, especially those buried in the ground. such as telegraph poles.