Rhode Island and Massachusetts Subterranean Termite Biology and Behavior

 

There are many different types of Termites including Subterranean Termites, Dampwood Termites, Drywood Termites, and Formosan Termites.
 

For this report we will concentrate on Subterranean Termites; since this is the most common species in the New New England area.
 

Subterranean termites are social insects that live in colonies that may contain hundreds of thousands of individuals. Termite colony members are dispersed throughout the soil and can extend underground tunnels tens to hundreds of feet to reach feeding sites.
 

Each termite colony contains three forms or castes, which are the workers, soldiers, and reproductives. These castes are physically distinct and perform different tasks in the termite society.
 

Workers are about 1/8 inch long and are blind, wingless, soft-bodied, creamy white to grayish-white with a round head. Workers are the most numerous individuals in a termite colony, and they are the termite caste that actually eats the wood. These sterile individuals forage for food and water, construct and repair shelter tubes, feed and groom other termites, care for eggs and young, and participate in colony defense.
 

Soldiers are also wingless and resemble workers except that they have a large, rectangular, yellowish-brown head with large mandibles(jaws). The soldiers’ primary function is colony defense.

Male and female winged reproductives are called alates or swarmers. They can produce new offspring. However, they shed their wings soon after flight. The subterranean termite, is the most common termite in New England and its alates are black and about 0.4 inch long, with pale or grayish, translucent wings. A pair of primary reproductives that heads a colony is called the king and queen.
 

Large numbers of winged termites swarming from wood or the soil often are the first obvious sign of a nearby termite colony. Swarming occurs in mature colonies that typically contain at least several thousand termites. A swarm is a group of adult male and female reproductives that leave their colony in an attempt to pair and initiate new colonies.
 

Alate emergence is stimulated when temperature and moisture conditions are favorable, usually on warm days following rainfall. In New England, swarming typically occurs during daytime in the spring (March, April, and May), but swarms can occur indoors during other months. However, swarming occurs during a brief period (typically less than an hour), and alates quickly shed their wings. Winged termites are attracted to light, and their shed wings in window sills, cobwebs, or on other surfaces often may be the only evidence that a swarm occurred indoors. The presence of winged termites or their shed wings inside a home should be a warning of a termite infestation.
 

Signs of termite presence include mud tubes and mud protruding from cracks between boards and beams. Subterranean termites transport soil and water above ground to construct shelter tubes that allow them to tunnel across exposed areas to reach wood. Shelter tubes protect them from the drying effects of air and from natural enemies, such as ants. These tubes usually are about 1/4 to 1 inch wide, and termites use them as passageways between the soil and wood.
 

Termite damage to the wood’s surface often is not evident because termites excavate galleries within materials as they feed. Wood attacked by subterranean termites generally has a honeycombed appearance because termites feed along the grain on the softer spring growth wood. Their excavations in wood often are packed with soil, and fecal spotting is evident. When inspecting for termites, it is useful to probe wood with a knife or flat blade screwdriver to detect areas that have been hollowed. Severely damaged wood may have a hollow sound when it is tapped. Subterranean termites do not reduce wood to a powdery mass, and they do not create wood particles or pellets, as do many other wood-boring insects.