PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds

PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds
ORDER ISOPTERA
Termites, ‘white ants’
NO. SPECIES
IN AUSTRALIA
SOME
DISTINCTIVE
FEATURES
More than 300 species. Their resemblance to ants is superficial; they are more
closely related to cockroaches. Comparatively few species damage standing
trees economically or are considered to be major pests of buildings. Termites
cause over $80 million damage each year in Australia.
www.ento.csiro.au/education/insects/isoptera.html
www.termite.com.au/termites/
Pest control company Fact Sheets
Termites are social insects that work and live together in colonies. Within
each colony are several types (castes), eg workers, soldiers and reproductives.
Their body is not constricted between thorax and abdomen as in ‘true ants’.
ADULT
Workers 1. Wingless, sterile and blind.
2. Small, soft body, whitish in colour with large rounded,
often brown head with powerful jaws.
3. Build and repair the nest, construct galleries, tend the
king, queen and young, find food for themselves and
other castes.
Soldiers 1. Wingless, sterile and blind.
2. Similar to workers but with heavily armoured dark
coloured head and larger jaws, head may be pointed.
3. Protect the nest from invaders (defence)
Reproductives
1. Kings, queens and other reproductive forms.
2. Adults have, for a short period only, 2 pairs of nearly
equal membranous wings which break off after flight.
LIFE CYCLE
Termites
About 14 mm long
Nests may contain as
many as 3-4 million
individuals depending
on the species
Tunnels. Most
termites remain within
a closed system of
tunnels devoid of light,
protected to some
extent from natural
enemies, temperature
and humidity extremes
The only exceptions
are during swarming
flights, repair or
construction of a nest.
Exceptions include
grass-eating species.
Nest. Most species
either build a small
mound at the base of
a tree trunk or live in a
nest remote from the
feeding sites foraging
tunnels which can be
up to 200 metres
away from the nest to
the feeding sites.
Large earthen
mounds can be up to
7 meters high.
There is a gradual metamorphosis - egg, nymph (several stages) and adult.
Only the king and queen reproduce (only the queen lays eggs).
METHOD OF
FEEDING
ADULT
NYMPH
Both have chewing mouthparts. Termites eat all types of plants
and plant materials, eg grass, wood. Cellulose is the basic food of
all termites which they digest with the aid of micro-organisms in
their gut. They mostly live in the dark and build protective tunnels
to travel between the nest and food source.
174 Insects and allied pests - Isoptera (termites, ‘white ants’)