Termites: "Invisible Destructors"

Termites are pale in colour and thus commonly referred to as “white ants”. They resemble ants but do not have a narrow “wrist” like them. They are social insects like bees and ants and live in colonies either in the ground or in wood.

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In Singapore, the three main types are:

• Dampwood Termites

• Drywood Termites

• Subterranean Termites

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Of these above, subterranean termites account for about 90% of termite activities in Singapore. Strictly speaking, termites have an important role to play in our ecosystem by breaking down fallen trees into nutrients for other living plants.

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They are greatly feared due to the extensive damage they caused to our properties as they feed on cellulose found in wood and wood by-products as well as “exploratory feeding” to PVC casings and electrical copper wiring. In most instances, the damage is not detected until it is too late, causing costly repairs, annoyance and stress. ​

Subterranean termites are social insect and live in family group called colony. These social insects work similar to a caste system which comprise of the king/ queen termites, workers termites, soldier termites  and reproductive alates living in colonies below the soil.

• Alate – primary reproductive –dark coloured, functional eyes soon become king and queen. 

• Secondary reproductive- replacing king and queen if they die. 

• Worker – responsible for all labor work, blind, functional sterile, care for the young, repair nest, build tunnels, locate food, feed and groom other caste, white in colour and very hard mouthparts. 

• Soldier – defender of the colony against ants and foreign termite, blind with enlarge hard brown head adapted for fighting. Head with large mandible / jaw used to puncture and slice enemies, big jaws prevent  them from feeding themselves, depend on workers for food.