Ants… Termites… What’s The Diff?

Spring is a great time of year for picnics and family outings, but a troublesome time for pest control. The weather has warmed and the first spring rain brought the desired humidity with it. This is when subterranean termites venture from their underground bases to seek new homes above the surface. The termite swarm is a migration of sorts, where unified groups of like-minded termites or one large colony ventures from their subterranean winter refuge to start the cycle of life again. It may sound like your typical nature channel storyline, but termites are not your typical pests. Their tendency to cause structural damage is well-known, as is their ability to ruin foundations by eating through wood. Their swarm is a rush to find food, create space, and multiply.

Mature termite colonies — those that are a few years old — are the most dangerous. These colonies produce termites called swarmers, who have temporary wings and fly from their underground homes to look for new environments to populate. Once their new homes are found and they’ve shed their wings, swarmers will pair up, mate, and form their own colonies with the females as the queens. The landing parties do require some space between their settlements, but this is relatively small compared to what humans consider space. This means there can be several colonies in a single area, with anywhere from 60,000 to 1 million for each queen.

Termites and ants are part of the same insect family and therefore can appear very similar. This is especially true for the flying versions, which are hard enough to spot, let alone identify. Here are some of the physical and behavioral differences between them, according to the St. Louis bug experts at Pointe Pest Control:

• Ants have curved antennae. Termites’ antennae are straight.
• Termites have a straight, almost rectangular torso; ants have a small waist.
• Winged ants have two large wings and two small wings; winged termites have four wings of equal size.
• Both have similar black or brown varieties, but termites tend to be light brown and ants also come in red.
• Carpenter ants move wood but don’t ingest it, and tend to cause less structural damage than termites, who actually eat wood.
• Ants are omnivores that will eat literally anything that is edible, and termites live on cellulose that is found in wood and wood-based products like paper.

Identifying termites individually can be another task altogether, as they vary in size and shape depending on their location of origin. There are also physical differences between the role each termite plays within its respective colony. Workers tend to be smaller and more translucent than the others; soldiers have larger heads to accommodate their larger jaws called mandibles; swarmers are distinguishable by their wings and have thicker, more apparent exoskeletons than the others, presumably as an evolutionary defense mechanism.

Whether your spring pest problem is termites or ants, call Pointe Pest Control right away!