Subterranean Termite Castes

Queen: The termite queen’s sole purpose is to reproduce – the typical termite queen lays thousands of termite eggs a year – and some termite queens live up to 30 years.

King: The termite king’s main purpose is to continuously mate with the termite queen. Size-wise, he is only slightly bigger than the other termites in the termite colony.

Workers: Termite workers have creamy-white soft bodies and are approximately 1/4 inch long. The workers are responsible for all of the labor in the colony. They care for the young, repair the nest, build foraging tunnels, locate food, feed and groom the other castes and each other. The youngest termite workers perform the tasks inside the colony like feeding, grooming and caring for the young, while the older more expendable workers take on the hazardous jobs of foraging and nest building. The termite workers are both male and female but they are functionally sterile. They are milky white in color and have no wings or eyes. The body of the termite worker is soft, but its mouthparts are very hard and adapted for chewing wood.

Soldiers: The soldier termites are the defenders of the colony. They protect the colony against marauding ants and foreign termites. When foraging tubes or galleries are broken into the soldiers congregate around the break to stand guard against invaders. Soldiers are similar to the termite workers in that they are blind, soft-bodied and wingless. However, the soldiers have an enlarged, hard, yellowish-brown head which has been modified for defense. The head has a pair of very large mandibles or jaws that are made to puncture, slice and kill enemies (primarily ants). However, the large mandibles prevent the soldiers from feeding themselves, so they must rely on the workers for food.