Japanese termite
The Japanese termite is a small pale insect that lives in big families under the ground. It eats old, rotting wood. Unlike many termites, it can cope with cold winters.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
A new termite family is usually started by a king and a queen together.
Sometimes two females start a family on their own and still have babies without any male.
When an old queen gets ready to be replaced, she can lay special eggs that grow into copies of herself.
Its queens live a very long time, because their bodies are extra good at protecting themselves from wear and tear.
Sometimes two males team up. They cannot start a family, but together they survive until one can join another nest.
Most asked questions about Japanese termite
?What does the Japanese termite eat?
Old, rotting wood.
?Where does the Japanese termite live?
In Japan and Korea, under the ground and in rotting wood.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Reticulitermes speratus
- Group
- Cockroaches and termites
- Family
- Rhinotermitidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Blattodea > Rhinotermitidae
- Lives on
- Asia
Where the facts come from
- Reticulitermes speratus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by No machine-readable author provided. Keisotyo assumed (based on copyright claims).. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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