Monday, December 1, 2008

Termites "subterranean I believe"


This morning as I went out into the front yard my eyes were delighted by the sight of hundreds of tiny shimmering white wings. I will tell you there are few things more enhancing than the spectacle of these home devourers when they immerge from the earth and strike out on a quest for structures to feast upon! They are preety much on a mission to recycle the planet!   
The winged (or 'alate') caste, also referred to as the reproductive caste, are generally the only termites with well-developed eyes (although workers of some harvesting species do have well-developed compound eyes, and, in other species, soldiers with eyes occasionally appear). Termites on the path to becoming alates (going through incomplete metamorphosis) form a sub-caste in certain species of termites, functioning as workers ('pseudergates') and also as potential supplementary reproductives. Supplementaries have the ability to replace a dead primary reproductive and, at least in some species, several are recruited once a primary queen is lost.
In areas with a distinct dry season, the alates leave the nest in large swarms after the first good soaking rain of the rainy season. In other regions, flights may occur throughout the year or more commonly in the spring and autumn. Termites are relatively poor fliers and are readily blown downwind in windspeeds of less than 2 km/h, shedding their wings soon after landing at an acceptable site, where they mate and attempt to form a nest in damp timber or earth.
Subterranean Termites