Do Termites Have Wings and Fly?
WouterThere are three kinds of termites. The smallest are the worker termites. They have translucent bodies and no wings.
The second group is the soldier termites. These are a little larger than the reproductives. They have antennae and pincers near their heads. They are brownish in color. They travel along mud tubes to reach a food source.
Termite swarms are the basic stages of the termite life cycle. The male and female reproductives swarm out of the nest and start searching for a place to start a new colony. The swarms are mainly male, but there are some females that reproduce through self-cloning.
These swarms are not very good fliers. They only use their wings to fly a short distance from their nest. A lot of them die in a few hours of dehydration.
Depending on the type of termite, there are different wings at different times of the year. For example, reproductive termites are only able to fly during the spring and summer months.
During this time of the year, they will fly from their nest and leave the wood that they are in. They then seek new wood to build a colony.
In spring and summer, subterranean termites also swarm out of their colonies. The reproductives will mate and begin the process of reproducing. These are the only termite castes that are sexually developed.
Both the male and female reproductives leave their nest when they are sexually mature. The wings are discarded when they do. This is because the colony has become overcrowded.
