Termite Emergence

 

Eastern Subterranean Termites (Reticulitermes flaviceps)
emerging from a trail sign.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

On a recent hike Diane and I walked through a cloud of insects. Stopping to look, we saw a wooden trail sign swarming with termites that were taking to the air.  They were Eastern Subterranean Termites (Reticulitermes flaviceps) and we were seeing the emergence and nuptial flight of this social insect.  

 

Eastern Subterranean Termites.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

Eastern Subterranean Termites live underground, as their name suggests. Their colonies can harbor millions of termites and there are three different castes.  Members of the worker caste are wingless, eyeless, white and cannot reproduce.  They eat wood that they digest with the aid of gut microbes. Workers feed members of other castes, raise young and build mud tunnels around the nest.  Termites of the soldier caste resemble workers but they have large jaws that they use to drive off ants and other predators that might invade the colony.   Soldiers cannot feed themselves and rely on workers for their nutrition.  

Eastern Subterranean Termite alates.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

The third caste is the reproductive caste.  Unlike the workers and soldiers, the members of this caste are dark brown or black with black wings.  They have eyes, and as their name says, they can reproduce.  The reproductive form of the Eastern Subterranean Termite is called an alate.

 

Video of Eastern Subterranean Termites.

Catawba College Ecological Preserve.

Salisbury, North Carolina. 

As we watched, hundreds of termites swarmed from tunnels in the sign and took flight.   This mass of termites was composed of about equal numbers of males and females.  Males and females pair up on the flight, shed their wings and dig tunnels to form new colonies.  

Holes in the sign from which Eastern 
Subterranean Termites emerged.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina. 

With so many termites appearing at once, predators are overwhelmed by their numbers so many survive to found new colonies.  Vast numbers of animals are always impressive whether it is Wildebeests (Connochaetes sp.) migrating on the savannas of Africa or an swarming termites in North Carolina.  After watching the termites emerge for a few minutes we walked on.  When we passed by the sign again a half hour later all the termites were gone.

Trail sign.
Catawba College Ecological Preserve.
Salisbury, North Carolina.