Once they mate, their wings drop off as they land and find a new nest.

Leave the nest in the spring and summer months to mate and start a new colony.

Contain the greatest number of individuals within a colony.

Responsible for the damage inflicted onto a property.

Carry out a range of duties – They are essentially builders, miners and midwives rolled into one.

First line of defence against attack, often give their life protecting the colony.

Jaws are so big they can’t feed themselves and rely on the workers to do this duty for them.

Both male and female, but sexually underdeveloped.

Have an enlarged head with big jaws to help protect the colony.

There are three main termite classes each with their own unique characteristics: Much like ants, termites operate within different castes (classes) each with their own duties within the colony.

They have straight antennae compared to ants.

Termites are a light colour, usually a white/cream colour and can sometimes look quite translucent.

What do termites look like?Īlthough very similar to ants in terms of shape and size, termites have some unique features which helps identify them. They tend to build their nests underground and use tunnels made from mud and their excrement to navigate an area for food. For example Subterranean termites aren’t too fond of sunlight. All species of termites live off cellulose whether they build their nest using it depends on the species.

Cellulose is an organic compound found in wood, plants and paper. Unlike ants, termites live off a strict diet of cellulose. Often mistaken as white ants, termites do differ from ants in terms of how they act and what they look like.

Ants are usually seen as an annoyance for the most part (Fire ants are a different story) whilst termites are inherently known for their capacity to cause a large amount of damage to a property. To the untrained eye both insects look alike, but did you know that termites are actually more closely related to cockroaches than ants? Both insects interact differently in terms of their ability to cause a disturbance to man. However did you know that these two insects often get mistaken for one another? For anyone that’s seen the film Antz, you’ll know that ants and termites are at a constant battle with each other in the wild.

Antz termites