A to Z of Pests

Drywood Termites

Cryptotermes spp.

Appearance

• Adults – bodies up to 7mm, or 11mm including wings.
• Soldiers – 5mm pale thorax and abdomen with a darker head.
• Larva – 1mm long, translucent white.

Lifecycle

• The winged adults (alates) emerge from the nest and swarm. After a short flight, they land and shed their wings.
• Once the females attract a male they seek a suitable site, e.g. a crack in a dry timber beam, and begin to excavate a chamber.
• They do not mate until they are sealed into their nest. Mating occurs throughout the life of the colony.
• The development of the colony is slow and after 1 year, the King and Queen may only have produced 3 or 4 larvae.
• The larvae develop into workers, soldiers or alates.

Habits

• They infest dry timber, e.g. structural timbers.
• They expand their nests by eating through timber in all directions; eventually leaving just a hollow, yet otherwise normal appearing piece of timber.
• They are most frequently detected by the frass that is ejected from the infected timber.