Nevada dampwood termite

It has only two genes for seeing light, the fewest known in any insect. That is because termites have lived in the dark for millions of years.

Scientists read its whole genome, the instruction book inside its cells, to learn how insects came to live in big families.

Birds, shrews, spiders, lizards, salamanders, frogs and toads all like to eat it.

It is not very good at telling smells apart. It rarely needs to, because a family almost never meets other termites outside its log.