THE ANIMAL FILES

Formosan subterranean termite

Coptotermes formosanus

Wood feeds a colony through its workers.

Formosan subterranean termites divide work among castes. Workers process wood with help from gut symbionts and share food, while soldiers defend and winged reproductives establish new colonies.[2]

Follow the evidence ↓
Formosan subterranean termite
Image: Photo by Scott Bauer. · Commons · Public domain
Feeding the colony
Workers share nutrients by trophallaxis.[2]
Building protected routes
Soil and saliva form foraging tubes.[2]
From wings to a new nest
Paired reproductives shed their wings.[2]

Feeding the colony

Gut protozoa help workers digest cellulose. Workers then transfer food to soldiers, reproductives and larvae, connecting a wood resource to members that do not feed directly on it.[2]

Building protected routes

Mud tubes protect travelling foragers against moisture loss and predators. Carton nest material also combines soil, wood pulp, saliva and faeces, filling spaces around the colony's activity.[2]

From wings to a new nest

After dispersal, a male and female shed wings and seek a moist crevice. A flight is therefore a colony-founding stage, not the everyday movement of the wingless workers.[2]

A soldier’s defensive head

Soldiers have a brownish-orange, teardrop-shaped head and dark curved jaws. When threatened, they release a white glue-like secretion through a front opening called the fontanelle. This characterises the defensive apparatus without making it unique to this species.[2]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Are all members of a termite colony winged?

No. Workers and soldiers are wingless; wings belong to dispersing reproductives.[2]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why can a soldier obtain energy from wood without eating it directly?

Reveal the explanation

Workers process the food and transfer nutrients through food exchange.[2]

Sources & editorial notes

Original explanations, checked against the sources below. The image has its own credit and licence above.

  1. NCBI Taxonomy — Coptotermes formosanus
  2. UF/IFAS — Formosan subterranean termite, EENY121

Last fact check:

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