THE TERMITE COLONY
The Termite Nest and it’s role
Termites are an extremely advanced and secretive insect, which can destroy timber and other substances without any visual indications to the untrained eye, which is why it is so important to have your home inspected at least annually. The trained Termite Technician will use experience and specialised equipment to locate signs of their presence. Each Nest will contain different termite types called 'castes'. These castes will be of the same species, and will generally have the same parents, but will be hatched with a different role to play in relation to the colony.
The ‘Queen’ Caste
The primary objective of the Queen is to reproduce, but in the early stages of colony development, the Queen, along with the King is responsible for nursery duties until there are enough workers to take over the nursery duties. The Queen of certain species can live for over 20 years, and produce millions of termites. Some Queens will become larger than the other castes, and the abdomen will become distended with eggs.
The ‘King’ Caste
The life of the King is a relatively easy one. The King is responsible for fertilizing the Queen, and ensuring the early stages of a colony, tending the young. The King of a colony is long lived, and can survive to service the queen for over 20 years.
The ‘Alate’ Caste
Winged alates are the reproductive family members, and are the most important caste for the reproduction of the species. During times of moderate temperatures and high humidity, the alates will part take in what is known as a 'colonizing flight'. The colonizing flight will usually occur within close proximity to the nest from slits in a tree, post or stump, commonly known as 'flight cuts'. Of the many alates which will emerge from for a colonizing flight, it is only the alates which land with another alate in a suitable environment with abundant food source and reproductive environment, that will survive to establish another colony. The alates will drop their wings, and mate, becoming the king and queen of an emerging colony.
The ‘Soldier’ Caste
The Soldier Caste is the larger caste in a colony, and is responsible for the protection of the workers and other castes within the colony. The soldiers are larger than the workers, and are the primary caste used for identification of a species of termite. Some Species of termites have two classes of soldier. Major and Minor soldiers. This can be used as an identification factor of certain species of established colonies.
The ‘Worker’ Caste
The 'Worker' Caste is responsible for locating suitable food sources, and feeding the colony. The workers will continue to forage individually until they locate a food source, which will then be tagged with a pheromone and sensed by other workers, informing them of a suitable meal. Once other workers are aware of the new food source, a portion of the colony’s workers will make their way to their new meal, to feed. They will build termite tubes and construct tunnels for safe and undetected transit to and from the nest. The workers are responsible for feeding the entire colony, and will make continual trips from a food source, back to the nest to provide a constant supply of food for the rest of the colony. These workers also constantly groom each other, removing any faeces or food which may become lodged during excavations and these two points are a major contributor to the transfer effect.