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Sticker of Milk termite
Bug card No. 2873 of 4,939

Milk termite

Coptotermes lacteus
Eats: WoodCockroaches and termitesForests and woods6 legs

The milk termite is a small Australian insect that lives in a huge family. Together they build a hard mound out of soil. From the mound, secret tunnels spread out under the ground in every direction.

Lives in
Australia
Length
4 to 4.8 mm (0.16 to 0.19 in)
the soldier termites
Top speed
about 0.04 km/h (0.02 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It does not sting.
What does it eat?
Like its termite relatives, it eats wood. The workers reach their food through tunnels in the soil.
For real!Photo of Milk termite
Picture by Froggatt, W. W.. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Milk termite about 4.8 mm long (0.19 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 90 seconds

How big is Milk termite compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The mound has a thick, hard outer wall and a hard core of soil stuck together like cement.

2

In the very middle of the mound is a soft, papery nursery where the queen and the young termites live.

3

The workers travel through tunnels in the soil, so they can find food without ever coming out into the open.

4

Its soldiers have heads shaped like a pear.

you asked

Most asked questions about Milk termite

?Where does the milk termite live?

In Australia, in mounds it builds from soil.

?How big is a milk termite?

Very small. Its soldiers are only about 4 to 5 millimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Coptotermes lacteus
Group
Cockroaches and termites
Family
Heterotermitidae
Classification
Insecta > Blattodea > Heterotermitidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Coptotermes lacteus (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 Froggatt, W. W.. Public domain, 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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More from the same group: Cockroaches and termites

Also at home here: Forests and woods

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