Southern harvester termite
The southern harvester termite has an unusually big reddish brown head with bright yellow spots on it. It lives in big families of thousands in the dry shrubland of South Africa and Namibia.
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Fun facts
Some of its mounds are 34,000 years old. They are the oldest termite homes still in use that anyone has ever dated.
Its mounds are called heuweltjies, which means little hills. They can be 40 metres wide and 2 metres high.
Workers cut plants into pieces 1 to 2 centimetres long and carry them home through tunnels under the ground.
In winter it comes out to gather food in the daytime, but in summer it comes out at night.
In Afrikaans it is called houtkapper, which means wood cutter, and stokkiesdraer, which means stick carrier.
Most asked questions about Southern harvester termite
?How old are the southern harvester termite mounds?
Some are about 34,000 years old, the oldest lived-in termite homes ever dated.
?What does the southern harvester termite eat?
Bits of grass and twigs, which it cuts up and stores in rooms under the ground.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Microhodotermes viator
- Named by
- Latreille, 1804
- Group
- Cockroaches and termites
- Family
- Hodotermitidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Blattodea > Hodotermitidae
- Lives on
- Africa
- Also known as
- Karoo harvesting termite, Wood-eating harvester termite, Houtkapper, Stokkiesdraer
Where the facts come from
- Microhodotermes viator (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 Timothy Whitehead. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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