Snouted harvester termite
The snouted harvester termite lives in big family groups inside mounds in the grasslands of southern Africa. At night the workers march out to collect grass and carry it home. Its soldiers have a pointy snout on the head that works like a little squirt gun.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It keeps a store of grass just under the top of its mound, so it does not have to go out in the cold winter.
The soldiers squirt a nasty chemical from their snouts. It keeps most hungry animals away.
The aardwolf does not mind the chemical at all and can eat up to 300,000 of these termites in one night.
Unlike most termites, it collects its food out in the open, walking in columns three to five termites wide.
Its mounds make the soil around them richer, which helps new plants grow.
Most asked questions about Snouted harvester termite
?What does the snouted harvester termite eat?
Grass. Workers collect it at night and store some in the mound for winter.
?How do snouted harvester termites protect themselves?
Their soldiers have snouts that squirt a nasty chemical at attackers. Only a few animals, like the aardwolf, can eat them anyway.
?Where do snouted harvester termites live?
In grasslands and savannahs of southern Africa, such as South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Trinervitermes trinervoides
- Group
- Cockroaches and termites
- Family
- Termitidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Blattodea > Termitidae
- Lives on
- Africa
Where the facts come from
- Trinervitermes trinervoides (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 JMK. CC BY-SA 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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Madagascar hissing cockroach
German cockroach
American cockroach
Oriental cockroach
Florida woods cockroach
Asian cockroach
Harvest mite
Carolina grasshopper
Rose bedeguar gall wasp
Differential grasshopper
Mediterranean red bug
Yellow meadow ant