Termites

Drywood Termites live in dry sound wood and need no contact with the soil. Their colonies are much smaller in size than Sub-terranean Termites with only 6-40 nymphs & 1 soldier by the end of the second year, 40-165 by end of 3rd & 70-700 by end of 4th. Colonies must be 4 years old to be mature enough to swarm. It could take 15 years for a colony to reach 3000 individuals.

Drywoods spend their entire life inside their food source. They have the ability to extract what moisture they need to survive from the material they eat. Drywood Termites are usually detected by swarms or by their distinct fecal droppings or pellets. These pellets are very small in size and have six concaved sides. The color of the pellets will vary with the color of the wood they are feeding on. They are discarded from the nest through “kick holes” or “kickout holes.

Drywood Termite eat both the soft spring wood and the hard summer wood. The galleries have a clean sandpapered appearance but pockets of fecal pellets can be found inside these galleries. Drywoods attack homes and furniture and commonly gain access to attics through open sofits and cracks. They can also be found infesting the wood members of crawl spaces. Carpenter ant damage also has clean sandpapered galleries but are no pel-lets and the frass contains dead ants and insect parts.

There is no true worker caste in the Drywood colony. All the maintenance duties of the nest are performed by nymphs. Nymphs clean, groom and feed the other members of the colony. They chew exit holes for the swarmers that are 7/16 to 1/8 inches. Eventually after 7 instars they will molt into adults becoming either a soldier or reproductive (swarmer). They can become secon-dary reproductive in just 4 molts. The secondary reproductive can start a new colony by divi-sion.

The swarmers range in color from reddish brown to yellow with transparent to gray colored wings. Most swarm in the evening during the summer. Swarmers are 1/2 inch in length and like subs they are attracted to light.

Light Southern Drywood Termite (Incisitermes Snyderi) is one of the most commonly found Drywood Termite in Florida. The swarmers are yellowish to yellowish brown and swarm at night.

Powderpost Termite are a type of Drywood Termite. They have the same biology and habits as normal Drywood Termites but the soldiers look different. The Powderpost Termite has a short, dark, rough, plug-shaped head which is concaved in the front. They swarm at night in May-July. The common Powderpost Termite, Crytotermes Brevis is the most abundant of all Dry-woods in Florida. It is nicknamed the Tropical rough headed, West Indian Drywood, furniture and house termite. It can be introduced to a home through infested furniture. This termite is not found outdoors in nature here in Florida, only inside homes, furniture and other structures.

Subterranean Termites

Subterranean Termite: These are the most important termites when it comes to structural damage. They are more widespread than the other two types of termites and more destructive. Subterranean termites live underground (cryptobiotic) for protection from enemies, extreme temperatures and storms. Ants are enemies of termites yet they can be found inhabiting the same ar-eas of a structure. When storms cause flooding in a nest the termites go into a state of quiescence for several hours.

Termites build tunnels throughout the soil and above ground with the aid of shelter tubes commonly called mud tubes. These tunnels and mud tubes protect subs from desiccation. The RH is nearly 100% deep inside the nest area allowing minimal loss of water through the termite‟s cuticle. The shel-ter tubes are comprised of soil and debris glued together by oral and anal secretions from the work-ers. Termites prefer sandy soils since there is more available (free capillary) water than there is in clay and other soils.

Subs can be distinguished from drywood and dampwood termites three ways, the wings of the alates (swarmers), the mandibles on the soldiers and the pronotum (the segment just behind the head) in the workers.

Subterranean swarmer wings have 2 pig-mented veins along the top margin of each wing. There are no veins crossing between these pigmented veins until the last 1/3 of the wing. Drywood and Dampwood termites have 3 or more pigmented veins with cross veins the entire length of the wing. The only excep-tion to this rule is the Florida Dampwood. It also only has 2 pigmented veins but there is no median vein while the sub has a distinct median vein. The Formosan sub has numer-ous hairs on its wings.

The segment behind the head is called the pronotum. In sub sol-diers and workers this segment is narrow than the head. Drywood and Dampwood termites have pronotums that are the same width as the head. Florida Dampwood has a narrow pronotum.

Subterranean soldiers have smooth mandibles that lack teeth. Drywood and Dampwood termites have teeth on the mandibles of the soldiers. The Florida Dampwood again is an exception to the rule by having smooth mandibles but its head is wider in the back where as the sub soldiers have rectangular shaped heads. The Formosan Sub-terranean termite has an egg shaped head with smooth mandibles.

Caste members in a Subterranean Termite Colony: Primary reproductive = Kings & Queens – Once a colony reaches maturity (typically 3-4 years but can take up to 10 years in poor conditions (weather)) it begins new colonies by send-ing thousands of swarmers (alates) out in to the world. We call this occurance swarming but the official term is „dispersal flights‟. A swarm in a new home indi-cates the home was built over or near a mature colony. The number of swarmers indicates the age and size of the colony. The older and larger the colony the more swarmers it will disperse.

Subterranean termite colonies can reach great numbers of individuals and cover large areas. Their nest is in constant move-ment within the environment. The colony will move up and down in the soil to follow the proper moisture and temperature con-ditions as well as sources of cellulose. Subs like to follow structural guidelines during their constant foraging for food sources. Structures and vegetation sitting in soil surface will create a shadow of cooler, moister conditions during hot summer months. These „thermal shadows‟ create prime foraging conditions for workers.