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Sticker of Western drywood termite
Bug card No. 1437 of 1,500

Western drywood termite

Incisitermes minor
Eats: WoodCockroaches and termitesHouses and farms6 legs

The western drywood termite is a dark brown termite with an orange head. It lives in families inside dry wood, in trees and also in the wooden walls and furniture of houses. People do not like it, because it slowly eats their homes.

Lives in
Western USA and northern Mexico, carried to other parts of the USA, Hawaii, China and Japan
Length
0.8 to 1.2 cm (0.31 to 0.47 in)
Top speed
about 0.07 km/h (0.04 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
It does not hurt people, but it can do a lot of damage to wooden houses and furniture.
What does it eat?
It eats dry wood, from dead branches and logs to the wooden beams of houses.
For real!Photo of Western drywood termite
Picture by Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org. CC BY 3.0 us, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Western drywood termite about 1.2 cm long (0.47 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
as long as 2 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 51 seconds

How big is Western drywood termite compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

A termite family has three kinds of members: winged swarmers, big-jawed soldiers and young helpers.

2

Only the winged swarmers leave the nest, to find a partner and start a new family as a king and queen.

3

The young helpers can change into soldiers or swarmers just by moulting their skin.

4

It has travelled to new places hidden inside wooden furniture and timber.

5

In California and Arizona it causes about 250 million dollars of damage every year.

you asked

Most asked questions about Western drywood termite

?Are drywood termites dangerous?

Not to people, but they can badly damage the wood of houses and furniture.

?What do drywood termites eat?

Dry wood, in dead trees, logs and wooden buildings.

?How big is a western drywood termite?

Soldiers are about 8 to 12 millimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Incisitermes minor
Group
Cockroaches and termites
Family
Kalotermitidae
Classification
Insecta > Blattodea > Kalotermitidae
Lives on
North America, Australia and Oceania, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Incisitermes minor (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org. CC BY 3.0 us, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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