Termites
‘White ants' are not actually ‘ants' because they undergo incomplete metamorphosis yet ants undergo complete metamorphosis.
Termites are of importance because they:
Damage plants and buildings;
Speed up the rate of decay and thus return plant foods to the soil;
Build anthills by cementing particles of sand together using saliva;
Are eaten by man (white ants) because they have protein in abundance.
There is division of labour among the termites i.e. some are for protection, others look for food, others build the house and others reproduce.
So termites are grouped into three different castes:
The reproductives; These are males (kings) and females (queens) which in the early part of their life have wings.
The workers: These are sexless and wingless. They hate light and they hunt for food feeding all the other members of the colony.
The soldiers: these have large heads and enormous jaws and they defend the anthill.
Life history of termites:
After rain there may be white ants which may be male or female with transparent wings.
They emerge from the ground, fly into air, mate and fall to the ground.
They may be eaten by amphibians, reptiles, birds, fellow insects and man.
Those that survive become queens and kings.
They make tunnels in the ground in which the queen lays eggs.
They guard the eggs and feed the nymphs (incomplete metamorphosis) until enough adult workers have been formed.
The workers enclose the king and the queen in a chamber and feed them.
The queen's body grows to a vast size especially the abdomen.
The queen thus becomes an egg-laying machine producing over one million eggs a year for several years!
NB: digging up the anthill can not destroy the termite community unless the queen is also dug up and removed.
The king's body grows very little and it remains in the royal chamber.
Workers remove eggs from the royal chamber through holes too small for the king and the queen to pass.