Termite Biology and Identification
Domain 1: Termite Biology and Identification
This domain tests recognition of Florida's wood-destroying organisms, colony biology, and field identification of termites versus ants and other wood pests. Questions often hinge on a swarmer description, a damage pattern, or a pellet sample.
Florida's principal termites
- Eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes): statewide; soil contact; mud tubes; daytime spring swarms.
- Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus): south/central Florida; large colonies; night swarms attracted to lights; can build aerial colonies and carton nests where moisture is present.
- Asian subterranean termite (Coptotermes gestroi): South Florida; night swarms; biology similar to Formosan.
- West Indian drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis): South Florida; no soil contact; attacks furniture and structural wood; six-sided fecal pellets.
- Southeastern drywood termite (Incisitermes snyderi): statewide drywood species.
- Dampwood termites (Neotermes spp.): require high moisture; large galleries.
Carpenter ants, carpenter bees, powderpost beetles, old house borers, and wood-decay fungi are common look-alikes or co-occurring problems.
Castes
Workers are pale, blind, wingless and do the feeding and gallery excavation. Soldiers defend with large mandibles. Winged reproductives (alates) swarm to start new colonies; supplementary reproductives can replace the primary king and queen.
Termite or ant?
- Antennae: termites beaded/straight; ants elbowed.
- Waist: termites broad; ants pinched.
- Wings: termites have four equal wings longer than the body and shed them; ants have unequal forewings and hindwings.
Damage signatures
Subterranean termites build mud tubes and soil-lined galleries. Drywood termites leave clean galleries, kick-out holes, and hard fecal pellets with six concave sides. Dampwood galleries are large and smooth-walled in very moist wood.
Worked example
A Miami homeowner reports night-flying insects at a porch light and later finds hard, seed-like pellets under a window frame. Reasoning: a night swarm plus drywood pellets points to drywood termites, likely C. brevis in South Florida; subterranean termites produce mud tubes and do not leave pelleted frass. The correct response is to collect a specimen, confirm the identification, and report visible evidence - not to spray a soil perimeter.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling every swarmer an ant; check antennae, waist, and wings.
- Assuming drywood termites need soil contact.
- Confusing drywood pellets with powderpost beetle powder (beetle powder is finer, no six-sided shape).
- Forgetting that Formosan termites can establish aerial colonies above soil.
- Treating before identifying the organism.