A Little Bit More
Finding termites in your house is certainly upsetting, to say the least. But many people have panicked and called their local exterminator after misidentifying ants as termites. Of course, we’ll hope that their exterminators were honest and pointed out the difference to the homeowner!
Everyone knows that termites feed on wood but in fact, they’re unable to digest this material without the action of large numbers of protozoans or bacteria in their gut to break down the cellulose into a bioavailable product. This mutual arrangement between termites and microorganisms is called mutualism and although it may seem strange to us, don’t forget that some of our own digestive processes are accomplished by microorganisms in our intestinal tracts too!
In nature, termites serve an important function in helping to quickly decompose wood, especially in the tropics and sub-tropics, into its basic components, which makes it available to the environment. The problem comes when termites decide to enter your home and do their chomping there.
Subterranean termites are the smallest but also the most destructive. These usually nest underground but may extend their burrows into wooden structures above the ground. Damp wood termites live only in very moist wood and cause problems only on the Pacific coast. Dry wood termites need little moisture to survive and are the most destructive in the southwestern U.S. All wood inhabiting termites produce fecal pellets. If you have dry wood termites in your house you’re likely to see the coarse sand-like pellets long before you discover the termites themselves.
Mature termite colonies have three castes: a) reproductives (king and queen), b) soldiers, and c) workers. The colony reaches its maximum size in approximately 4 to 5 years and may include 60,000 to 200,000 workers. New colonies are formed when winged males and females from a parent colony emerge in flight or swarm. It’s scary to have termites in your home so be sure to keep an eye out for them and stop their inroads long before they cause any real damage.
Activities
Science – Ant Farm
Objectives: See ants in action
Materials: Ant Farm (see online site)
I’m not encouraging teachers/instructors to purchase many materials for EN activities, but an ant farm seems like an excellent way for students to learn about an impressive insect at little expense. Take a look at this website (RTPI has no connection with Circuit City) and see if this setup will meet your needs. Although food is provided for your ants along with your container, I think it would be interesting for students to find an occasional dead insect to add to the colony to see how the ants react. There are other organizations that provide starter ant colonies so if this doesn’t suit your needs, shop around.
Here are some questions that students can try to answer with careful observation:
- Are the ants more or less active at night or in the daytime?
- Do all the ants seem to have the same “job” in the colony?
- Do any of the ants in your colony look different from others?
- How do the ants carry food or soil around?
- Do the ants seem to communicate?
- Do ants have antennae (feelers)?
- Do you ever see the ants “go to the bathroom”?
- Is there a special location in the colony for “garbage”?
- Will your ants have babies – why or why not? (you may need to do some research on this)
- Do your ants seem to recognize each other?
- How do your ants treat a “foreign” object? (Something new placed in their colony)
- What happens to a dead ant or other insect placed in their area?
You may want to try some “gentle” experiments with your ants to see what you can learn. Ants may seem like extremely basic animals but their behaviors are not well understood and there is a great deal still to be learned!
Key Concepts
Adaptations and Diversity, Identification
Questions
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Posted by Phyllis Morris on July 01, 2006 at 04:01 PM
Q: I think I have flying ants in my backyard, I have a sand hill and I saw 50 to 75 flying insects going in and out of holes in the sand. I sprayed with a bug spray because I also have a pool there and I thought these things may attack people going swimming.
Was this the right thing to do??? Thanks
A: If you take a look at our October 3 week's unit for 2005 you'll see how to identify termites from ants. Although I can understand you eagerness to keep insects from your swimming guests, you really didn't need to spray them. The ants were getting ready to disperse on a mating flight where winged males and a few new winged ant queens would mate and then go elsewhere to establish their own nests. Although you may have had an occasional ant around the pool, none would sting or bite. Thanks for asking.
Posted by Lisa Halfen on June 07, 2006 at 07:43 AM
Q: do ants and termites live together? I lifted a landscaping brick outside my home and found ants and something that looked like an ant but it had wings.. there were many holes in the ground and they both were going in and out of the tunnels in the ground
A: To the best of my knowledge, ants and termites do NOT live together. Be sure to check out our unit on ants vs. termites at www.enaturalist.org The illustration has a flying termite so maybe this is why you're a bit concerned about the insects you found? Ants also have winged individuals when they're ready to mate. At some point in the life of a colony, several female and many male ants are produced that have wings. These ants leave the colony, mate, and then the females begin a new colony. I think you just stumbled onto a colony with winged ants that hadn't left on their mating flight yet. If your insects have a pinched waist, you probably have ants, not termites. Thanks for asking and I hope this makes you feel better.
Posted by teresa willia,ms on April 25, 2006 at 08:54 AM
Q: I pulled a paver up (that was next to some landscape timber_) and there were small black ants, white eggs the ants were taking and white ants or termites. Do they live together? There were tiny grooves in the end of the landscape timber.Do I need to worry? I did not see any with wings.
A: I can understand your concern. Living in Alabama, you're certainly in an area where termites thrive. It doesn't make sense to me that termites and ants would be living together but I live in the north so take that reply with a grain of salt. My first thought about the "white ants" is that they may be newly emerged ants that haven't yet assumed their black coloration. But I'm not positive of this. If you got a good look at the ants/termites, you should be able to distinguish the two by noticing their waists. Ants have a pronounced waist between their thorax (middle body part) and abdomen (end body part) - termites do not. Take a look at one of our units and you can see what I'm describing www.enaturalist.org
Seeing wings only indicates that the insects are getting ready to mate and disperse - both ants and termites do this. If you have termites living really close to your house, I'd assume they could likely be IN the house too but an exterminator can best determine that. I for one am hesitant to call in an exterminator but if you do have any doubts, you probably should do just that. Ants in your house are no fun but termites pose a real problem to the structure. My very best to you and let's hope you were seeing ants and they were outside, not in. Thanks for asking.
Posted by nicole chausse on December 09, 2005 at 06:17 PM
Q: Could a house in Georgetown, Maine have termites? A southern bank is requiring a termite inspection, but I have been told that there are no termites in Maine beyond the extreme south.
A: Keep in mind that there are many species of termites and not all are damaging. But, I did find a range map for subterranean termites ( ohioline.osu.edu ) that does show presence of termites in Maine. My guess is that Southern banks automatically request a termite inspection since termites are so prevelant in the South. We don't have any termite inspections in central New York State, so maybe you can check with your local realtors to see whether this is a valid concern or not. Your local realestate board should be able to give you some quick answers to this. Best of luck.