How do termites live and how do they differ from ordinary ants?

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Ants and termites

- creatures of completely different origins (relatives of bees and cockroaches, respectively), but similar (in the eyes of the average person) habits. Both live in large colonies with one egg-laying queen and a crowd of constantly busy asexual[1] workers of various castes. In the mass consciousness, an ant is a small and weak creature, not much different from any other ant, but it is hardworking, persistent, and capable of working together. Usually an ant is simply the embodiment of hard work and collectivism, but if someone is compared to it, they usually emphasize its weakness and their superiority. However, in science fiction, based on ants, they can create a race very different from humans. If people somehow acquire the size of insects, the books will be in the microworld adventure genre.

Termites, on the other hand, eat wood[2]. If you ask the average person what they know about termites - and ask them not to make any reference to ants - the answer will most likely be this phrase. It is the devouring of wood by termites that has become a stereotype, forever ingrained in the brain of the average person and satirically depicted in dozens of cartoons, where these insects turn a table or stool into dust in a split second. One of the differences between termites and ants is that, in addition to the queen, termites have a king.

Krylov's fable (see below) became a tropnamer twice: Dragonfly and Ant and Dragonflies against Ants.

Ants

There are more than 12,000 species of ants. These powerful insects are capable of lifting up to 20 times their own weight. Queens can give birth to millions of babies. As social animals, they live and travel in groups.

The colonies consist of a queen, female and male workers. Some ant colonies have multiple queens. Although they cannot fly, only males and queens have wings. The male is responsible for fertilizing the ant. Only the queen lays eggs.

Solder ants act as defensive barriers, protecting the colony and guarding the queen. They attack other colonies, seeking to conquer and feed. The attackers even take the eggs of another colony and hatch them to become slaves.

Prevention

For some time, flying ants can settle in a country house. A few days later they leave him. Usually you don't have to fight them. In rare cases, when there is a large proliferation, chemicals are used to destroy the remaining ants.

Preventive measures include:

• regular cleaning;
• storing waste in closed containers;
• inspection of the roof during the mating season of insects;
• sealing all cracks in windows and doors.

Termites

Termites eat wood. The community consists of kings, queens, swarmers and workers. You differentiate swarmers and workers by the cream color of the workers. Swarmers breed where only queen ants lay eggs. Swarmers may lack wings, as the appendages may fall off shortly after birth.

Termites are detritivores, meaning they feed on wood and tree bark. Insects feed on the cellulose in wood. In some cases, they eat plants. In extreme cases, termites will also feed on plastic, paper and drywall.

These determined creatures burrow deep into wooden structures. They are usually discovered after significant damage has been caused to these structures. Having found a home, termites quickly take root. They build what are called mud pipes. These structures serve as a bridge between the food source and the colony. Mud tubes protect the colony and retain moisture. Adult termites will leave to create new colonies.

About nests

The nests of these insects have different structures, locations and sizes. They can be located underground and communicate with each other thanks to many tunnels, reminiscent of huge galleries. Sometimes termite mounds rise in the form of gloomy pillar-like structures on the surface of the earth.

In the north of Australia, termites have built nests that look like gravestones, rising 3 m above the ground. It is noteworthy that many of these termite mounds are built according to the same principle: their narrower edges are directed strictly to the south and north. This is how termites carry out climate control inside the home, as if taking into account the daytime heat and nighttime coolness of those places.

The nest is built by workers from a clay-like mass obtained by mixing their own excrement and saliva with soil and wood. The walls of such a termite mound are quite dense, and in order to destroy it, the enemy will need some effort. The size of the nest directly depends on how numerous the colony currently lives in it.

Inside any type of nest, countless chambers are built for storing food supplies and the development and growth of offspring. The most reliable chamber was rightfully given to the royal couple, who were responsible for adding to the family.

Comparison of Ants and Termites

The following table compares the two, highlighting at a glance the main differences between them.

Together - we are force

There is nothing strange in the custom of spiders and female praying mantises to eat their suitors. It's just that most predatory insects recognize only two classes of objects. “Small and moving” - food. “Big and moving” is the enemy. The male is smaller. He is food

The benefits of cooperation are undeniable. But to unite the forces of many individuals, altruism is required, the willingness to sacrifice the personal for the sake of the common. This amazing impulse is based on the instinct of procreation. And in the simplest case, it prohibits eating one’s own offspring. It should be noted that, for example, most predatory fish, even viviparous ones, do not have any complexes in this regard. The baby, as soon as it is born, is immediately forced to flee from its mother. For the first time, the ability, in addition to “enemies” and “prey,” to recognize a third category of objects—“friends”—appeared about 200 million years ago. Probably, it is precisely in insects, which rapidly form new species, and therefore are quick to come up with inventions.

From tolerance to your own offspring there is only one tiny step to caring for them. If young individuals do not need to flee from adults, nothing prevents them from staying nearby, automatically receiving some protection (what is an “enemy” for them is “prey” for the mother) and even food - in the form of scraps from the table of their elders.

The next step towards the formation of a “superorganism” may be the cohabitation of several generations of already mature individuals. However, this step is rarely taken, because crowding only means competition for food. It’s another matter if the creatures decide to search for and capture prey with their combined forces. But to do this, you first need to invent some way of exchanging information.

The chemical signals of ants living in huge families are extremely complex and varied, but the main one is the most obvious. As soon as one ant uses a weapon, others immediately rush to the smell of formic acid. And even if the “sentinel” encountered a creature that falls under the definition of “enemy,” there is a high probability that the enemy himself will become prey when the rest of the ants come running.

Ants are the absolute record holders among invertebrates in terms of the ratio of brain to body mass. Complex joint actions require developed intelligence

But on the way to a social lifestyle there is another obstacle - genetics. If the offspring, growing up, remain in the same nest, inbreeding is inevitable. Therefore, it is possible to further build an ideal state in a single rotten stump only if the older female secretes a special pheromone - a volatile substance that suppresses sexual desire in other inhabitants of the nest. This is how the bumblebee community works, for example. All females in a nest are identical and have the potential to reproduce, but only one lays eggs. If the queen dies, the release of the asexual pheromone will stop, and another female will become fertile.

The bumblebee approach to the problem is reliable, like everything primitive, but it is not without its drawbacks. One ordinary female cannot make up for the losses of a family if there are more than several dozen individuals. The path to prosperity and, in fact, to world domination of social insects is opened only by physical specialization - division into castes. Winged individuals are needed for dispersal, exchanging genes and founding nests, where they then turn into stationary egg factories.

Secrets of the anthill

Termite mounds and anthills are extremely complex structures. It is difficult to imagine how tiny insects, without a unified plan and general guidance, can build them. This allows parascience to freely use the homes of social insects as evidence of the existence of telepathy, information fields and the “collective mind” dear to the hearts of science fiction writers. However, the plan is not transmitted to the ants from somewhere outside - it really does not exist.

In nature, you will not find two identical termite mounds or anthills. The location of passages and chambers in each is unique. Because the organization of work is extremely simple. The ants operating outside the heap build it up, tirelessly burying their brethren remaining inside. They, in turn, dig out, clearing passages to the surface. Chambers for mushroom plantations, eggs and larvae are created as needed in the depths of the heap by expanding the corridors.

Termites act in the same way - with the only difference that their fortress is built from the inside. The outer layer of the structure is riddled with random “technical” passages. The main corridors, ventilation shafts and halls are not planned in advance, but are hollowed out in the thickness of the termite mound when and where needed.

By the way, if the bustle of ants and termites seems chaotic and stupid to you, you are absolutely right. Insects waste approximately 80% of their effort by interfering with each other or building something that will immediately be dismantled.

6 Key Differences Between Termites and Ants

Ants and termites often count against each other, although termites are never outdoors. Here are six main differences between termites and ants.

Termites vs Ants: Antennas

The ant is the only insect to have bent antennae. Termites have normal straight antennae, but they look like they have balls or beads on them.

Termites vs Ants: Body Shapes

Ants have a narrow body, especially around the middle or waist. Termites tend to have wider waists.

Termites vs Ants: Wings

Both termites and ants have four wings. Termite wings are fairly uniform in size. Ants have two small wings on their hind legs. The front wings are larger. Both insects may lose their wings. Exterminators say homeowners are more likely to discover discarded termite wings before seeing the insects themselves.

Termites vs Ants: Visibility

The ant settles in various conditions as it feeds for food. This is why you will see ants boldly walking around your indoor and outdoor spaces. Most often they are found on baseboards and window sills. Subterranean termites. You will find evidence of their work, such as droppings and wings, but you will rarely see termites.

Termites vs ants: diets

Ants eat a variety of foods, including other insects. Termites adhere strictly to a arboreal diet. But they don't eat wood. Instead, the insects feed on the cellulose in the wood. They shave the tree and extract the compound.

Nutrition.

The main food of almost all termites is cellulose or its derivatives. Typically, termites eat dead branches and rotting parts of tree trunks, only occasionally attacking their living tissue, although there is evidence that some primitive tropical species damage tea bushes and tree stems. Representatives of the subfamily Hodotermitinae damage forage crops in Africa and Asia. A number of species feed on cereals, collecting their dry shoots in the storage chambers of their underground nests or mounded termite mounds. Some termites feed on dead leaves, and quite a few feed on the humus of tropical soils. Representatives of the subfamily Macrotermitinae breed the so-called. mushroom gardens by colonizing their excrement or plant debris with mushroom mycelium and then eating it.

Regulation of caste composition.

Apparently, the number of individuals of different types is regulated in a certain way. The reproductive caste is necessary primarily for the founding of new colonies and the laying of eggs. Typically, all individuals of a colony, which can contain up to 3 million insects of different castes and stages of development, are the offspring of one king and one queen. Winged individuals of two sexes appear in a certain season for the dispersal summer. In primitive termites, queens are relatively small, and their ovaries are only slightly enlarged compared to their body size, but in more evolutionarily advanced taxa, the abdomen of females that have begun to reproduce is huge and literally filled with eggs. The length of queens of tropical species is 2–10 cm, and they lay up to 8,000 eggs per day. In evolutionarily advanced species, the adult population consists mainly of workers, and only 1–15% of individuals become soldiers.

In experimental colonies, the removal of one or both reproductive individuals usually results in the development of "replacement" nymphs - without wings or with only their rudiments. Removing soldiers also stimulates the transformation of undifferentiated nymphs into them. The regulation of the caste composition of the colony is explained by the so-called. "the theory of inhibition". It is assumed that reproductive individuals and soldiers secrete some kind of inhibitory substance (telergon), which is licked off by their relatives. The exchange of telergons between them (“mutual feeding” or trophallaxis), reaching the nymphs, suppresses the development of the latter into the corresponding castes. With the experimental removal of soldiers or breeders (or the aging of the royal couple), the number of telergons does not reach a threshold level, and the nymphs turn into those whose inhibitory substances are currently in short supply.

Habitats

Termites live in regions with subtropical and tropical climates. Termites live in colonies in their homes built in wood or soil. Distinctive features include the construction of nests located above the surface of the ground. These termite mounds can support up to several million inhabitants. The lifestyle is secretive, usually nocturnal.

What does a termite mound look like?

Termite nests are comparable to perfect engineering structures. The shape of termite mounds is influenced by the behavioral characteristics of their inhabitants. Workers build their own “apartment” from wood, earth, saliva and powder elements. The similarity of nests of different families of the same species is due to their biological commonality.

Large termite mounds predominate in Australia and Africa and are structures of conical or flat shapes, up to 10 m high. Termite mounds look like solid piles of earth, rock-like sand hills, seemingly strong and impregnable.

Symbiotic protozoa.

The hindgut of termites from four relatively primitive families (Mastotermitidae, Kalotermitidae, Hodotermitidae and Rhinotermitidae) is home to symbiotic flagellated protozoa (Protozoa). Their enzymes convert cellulose into soluble sugars, which are absorbed in the midgut of insects. About 500 species of protozoa are known to lead such a mutualistic lifestyle, and, apparently, they have evolved in close relationship with their hosts and both sides cannot exist without each other. The most advanced termite family, Termitidae, which unites approximately three-quarters of all living species, does not have simple symbionts. The physiology of digestion of cellulose and its derivatives by these insects is not yet fully understood.