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Mound-building termites are a group of termite species that live in mounds which are made of a combination of soil, termite saliva and dung. These termites live in Africa, Australia and South America. The mounds sometimes have a diameter of 30 metres (98 ft). Most of the mounds are in well-drained areas.
The infraorder name Isoptera is derived from the Greek words iso (equal) and ptera (winged), which refers to the nearly equal size of the fore and hind wings. [15] " Termite" derives from the Latin and Late Latin word termes ("woodworm, white ant"), altered by the influence of Latin terere ("to rub, wear, erode") from the earlier word tarmes.
As it digests the cellulose and matures, the fungus grows white nodules on the surface of the comb – which is what the termites eat directly. As the fungus exhausts the substrate in the comb, new substrate is added and the old substrate is then also eaten by the termites. Termitomyces heimii with growing mycelium and primordia on comb.
Scientists in South Africa have been stunned to discover that termite mounds that are still inhabited in an arid region of the country are more than 30,000 years old, meaning they are the oldest ...
Termites have four wings that are the same size, translucent and stacked on top of each other Flying ants have a pinched, small waist; whereas termites have a thick waist
Hypotermes makhamensis is native to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. It is a forest-dwelling species and the colony builds and lives inside a complex epigeal (mound) nest. . Termites are important in the ecology of the tropical and subtropical forests in the region as degraders of leaf litter and decomposers of dead
Despite the popular reputation of termites for breaking down and digesting wood, most termite species do not possess the capability to digest the cellulose in wood. Macrotermitinae instead use their mounds to cultivate fungus in a symbiotic relationship, similar to leaf-cutter ants (fungus-cultivating ants). Worker termites find plant debris ...
The mounds built by this termite can be up to 4 m (13 ft) tall, 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) wide and 1 m (3 ft 3 in) deep. [1] The nests are laterally flattened and are oriented so that they receive the warmth of the sun on their eastern and western sides in the morning and evening while exposing less surface to the sun at midday when the nest might ...