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NATURAL History
SURVEY

A.

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

http://www.archive.org/details/habitscontroloft19mill

Fane Nye
“alg a ay

STATE or ILLINOIS

DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRATION AND EDUCATION
STATE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY DIVISION

STepHEN A. Fores, Chief

ENTOMOLOGICAL SERIES
CIRCULAR 10

HABITS AND CONTROL OF TERMITES

By Aveust E. MILier

MATURE WINGED TERMITE
(35 times actual size)

URBANA, ILLINOIS

1926

Natural History Survey

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ScHNEPP & BARNES, PRINTERS
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.
1926

58937—1,200

wa > \\ HABITS AND CONTROL OF TERMITES

By Aucust E. MILLER

In view of the increasing number of requests from residents in
various parts of the State for information concerning the activities of
Termites, it seems desirable to present this account of their habits and
the measures of suppression thus far found to be most effective. An
attempt has been made to formulate rather definite questions which might
arise concerning a Termite outbreak, and to present answers which would
be free of encumbering detail.

oe
, ai tz,

ADULT WORKER ADULT SOLDIER
(65 times natural size) (65 times natural size)

1. What are Termites? Generally speaking, Termites are in-
sects of a rather primitive type, altho they maintain a rather highly
perfected social organization, living in colonies made up of several classes
—workers, soldiers, and sexual forms.

The workers are milky-white to gray, slightly flattened insects, about
one-fifth inch long, without wings and with cutting mouth parts. They
are usually the most numerous individuals in a colony.

The soldiers are of about the same shape and size, with no wings.
They have a yellowish abdomen and large reddish-brown head with strong
pincher-like jaws.

4

Males and virgin females are black, faintly tinged with brown, of the
same general shape and size as the workers, and have four long silvery
wings which give them a length of about one-half inch. Fertile females,
or queens, are of the same color as virgins, but with bands of white across
the abdomen in the older ones; the body is variously distended with eggs,
and the wings have been broken off at a definite joint near the base. The
latter individuals are but rarely seen.

Of the three species of Termites possibly occurring in Illinois, refer-

ence is here made only to the commonest one, Reticulitermes flavipes
Kollar.

2. What damage is done by Termites? They eat all manner of
wooden structures and materials which are favorably exposed, and fre-
quently attack living plants. Conservatively estimated, the loss caused
by Termites in Illinois amounts to $1,000,000 annually.

ADULT SEXUAL FORM WITH WINGS FOLDED
(60 times natural size)

3. Do they occur everywhere? Although not every property
in every town in the State is infested, it seems safe to say that practically
every community is infested to some degree. Since Termites work almost
entirely under cover, their presence is seldom suspected until the damage
has been done. The flight of winged individuals should be heeded as
indicating the presence of these insects about the property.

4. Are Termites Ants? Although popularly called “White
Ants,” these insects are only remotely related to true ants, and for this
reason the use of such a misleading common name is discouraged in favor
of “Termites.” They undergo a different type of transformation from
stage to stage and, for the most part, have quite different food habits,
which make them much more difficult to control than are the true ants.
The colony organization, also, differs much from that of true ants.

5. Where do Termites come from? Our common species has
long been known in North America. It at first maintained itself in and
about dead trees and other vegetation in forests and fields, and still does
so to a large extent. However, as man converted various forest products
to his needs, these insects maintained themselves in the changing environ-
ment and became a ravenous property-destroying pest.

9)

6. What are the stages in the life of this insect? From eggs
laid along the walls of the galleries by the queen, there hatch minute
white creatures resembling mature Termites in all superficial ways ex-
cept the number of joints in the antennae. They are not at once able to
take solid food, but are fed by the older insects. As growth proceeds,
the skin is shed several times before the insect becomes mature. Preced-
ing each moult, there is a brief period of retarded activity incident to the
casting of the skin. Immediately following this act, the Termite continues
its cutting and feeding.

A SECTION OF 2”x12” JOIST SHOWING HOW COMPLETELY TERMITES
CONSUME THE WOOD

Generally speaking, a Termite may be said to pass through an eg
stage and a series of several immature, or nymphal, stages before it finally
becomes an adult. The earliest immature stages are separated with some
difficulty, although in the later stages the characters for separation are
rather definite.

7. What are the food habits of Termites? Wood and other
forms of vegetation comprise the bulk of the consumed food. Vegetable
products, such as cotton and linen cloth, paper, paper board, straw board,
and boxing, are typical of materials in which Termites will also work.
All forms of wood, if slightly moist, will serve as food, altho a few
tropical hardwoods and the resinous portions of some conifers are par-
tially resistant. Very wet wood or very dry wood is seldom attacked.

8. How are the nests established? During May and June each
year, there appears from each well-established nest a large swarm of
winged males and females. Of the myriads of them flying into the air,
only a few survive the ravages of birds, predaceous insects, and other un-
favorable conditions. A pair will alight and search out some suitable site

6

in or near a log, stump, or other plant remnant. The wings soon break
off, and mating occurs. The process of colonization is at first slow. A
small cell is cut out which is in time extended into a short gallery. A few
eggs are deposited. These hatch and the young soon begin cutting at the
wood for food, thereby enlarging the gallery system. The queen’s capacity
to lay eggs increases, and there is a corresponding increase in the number
of individuals in the nest. Thus, in a healthy colony, the system of gal-
leries steadily becomes larger.

Certain secondary sexual forms to be found in most nests also
wander to new sites through underground galleries, and thus establish
new nests.

9. What are suitable nesting sites? Termites do not usually
live in very moist situations, nor are very dry situations suitable for their
colonies. They seem to prefer a moderately moist site where the wood,
which serves as food as well as to partly house the colony, is directly in
contact with the soil or, at most, only a few inches from it. Fairly wide
departures from this rather ideal condition are sometimes found, yet
moisture seems absolutely necessary, and a suitable food supply must
be available.

10. How are Termites socially organized? Essentially, there
are three castes of individuals present in a nest. The workers are pri-
marily engaged in cutting new galleries into the wood, and in feeding
the immature stages and queens. Most of the wood thus cut away is
eaten at once. It is not digested by the Termites themselves but is acted
upon by innumerable one-celled intestinal residents which convert the
wood into a material from which the Termites derive their supply of
energy. In addition to gallery cutting, the workers construct sheds of soil
and wood particles to cover their runways where these are exposed. The
several materials are firmly joined together with the aid of salivary and
intestinal secretions.

The soldiers apparently are unable to cut and consume solid wood
after becoming mature. Their food then consists largely of wood frag-
ments partly digested by the workers, which they are able to secure in the
galleries. With their large heads, they can effectually block the passage-
ways against an enemy several times their size. They will also rush to
the attack with wide-open jaws. If caught out of their galleries, how-
ever, they are at the mercy of even a weak adversary. :

Several sexual phases may occur in a colony of Termites. Of pri-
mary importance are the normal and fully developed males and females
capable of flight. It is the queens which are most active in perpetuating
the colony. However, should the colony for any reason lose the services
of a true queen, there will usually develop a replacement queen from
among certain immature Termites. A few of these potential queens are
to be found in the nest at all times and occasionally may become capable
of reproduction, although a true queen is functioning. The males con-
tinue to live after the colony becomes established, and aid somewhat in
gallery making.

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11. How long do Termites live? There is little definite in-
formation upon which to base an answer to this question. It is probable
that workers normally live from several months to as much as a year or
possibly longer, and queens are known to live as long as two years.

12. What conditions about a property are most likely to en-
courage an infestation?

(a) Wooden cellar windows, whether painted or plain, so set that
soil or debris is, or may come, in contact with them, offer the path through
which Termites gain access to houses in 90 per cent of the cases examined
in Illinois.

(b) Outside doors whose wooden sills rest on the ground or weak
masonry, are liable to attack.

(c) Wooden porch and floor supports resting on the ground or on
masonry insufficient to keep soil and debris from about the base, are
unsafe. ;

(d) Buildings beneath which there is no cellar and in which wooden
lower-floor supports either rest on the ground or are but slightly removed
from it, offer points of entrance for Termites. Such situations are fre-
quently quite damp and so further favor Termite colonization.

(e) Cellar walls are often of such imperfect masonry construction
that Termites are able to enter the cracks, weak mortar joining, or porous
gravel concrete. The unbroken airway left in most brick or block walls,
if accessible to the Termites, is a favored place for extensive gallery
making.

({) Dead portions of injured trees and dead stumps; posts, poles,
wooden plant supports, and trellises set in the ground; heavy fibrous roots
and stalks of dead and living plants; and large accumulations of moist
leaves, brush, animal dung, and vegetable debris—all offer suitable feed-
ing sites for Termites.

13. What are the methods of checking ravages by Termites?

(a) Only metal cellar window frames should be used when there
is the least possibility of their coming in contact with soil.

(b) Any wooden structure or support which must be used in con-
tact with the ground should be thoroughly saturated with hot crude coal-
tar creosote to a point at least a foot above the line of contact. Pressure-
impregnated wood is more durable and well justifies its use. Wooden
posts in the cellar should rest on the concrete and not extend through it.

(c) Mortar used in cellar walls should not contain more than 10
per cent of lime. At some point, preferably at the top of the foundation,
a metal, slate, or tight cement cap should be set so as to break completely
any path between the air space in the wall and the wooden sills.

(d) All wood which must be set in the ground out of doors should
be thoroughly soaked in hot crude coal-tar creosote. The surface so
treated should extend at least a foot above the ground line. All dead or
dying trees or stumps and other useless wood or plant remains should be
burned at once. These should not be taken into the house for use as
fuel when Termites are known to be in them. All waste wood should be
kept off the ground about the premises.

8

14. The keynote of success in combating Termites is absolute
thoroughness in insulating wood and dead plant remains from the earth
through the use of metal, masonry, or creosote. Community co-operation
is the best assurance of success.

UPPER END OF A FENCE POST SHOWING
DAMAGE BY TERMITES

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA

570IL6C C006
CIRCULAR

1-24
3 0112 017541175