Conehead termite
The conehead termite lives in huge families inside round, dark brown nests that hang on tree trunks and branches. Each family has a queen, workers and soldiers. The soldiers have special heads that can squirt sticky goo at enemies.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
When an anteater breaks into the nest, the soldiers spray a sticky liquid that smells a bit like pine and lemon. It keeps the anteater from coming back.
The heaviest nest scientists found weighed 28 kilograms, as much as a big dog.
The queen lives in a strong little room right in the middle of the nest.
A kind of bat sleeps inside its nest, and some ants live there too.
It fights termites from other nests, so it must be able to tell its own family apart from strangers.
Most asked questions about Conehead termite
?What does the conehead termite eat?
It eats wood, and its nest is built right where its food is.
?Where do conehead termites live?
In rainforests of Central and South America, in nests on trees.
?Are conehead termites dangerous?
No. They are harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Nasutitermes corniger
- Group
- Cockroaches and termites
- Family
- Termitidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Blattodea > Termitidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Nasutitermes corniger (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 Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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