Drywood Termites

Cryptotermes spp

Appearance

•  Adults – bodies up to 7mm, or 11mm including wings.
•  Soldiers – 5mm pale thorax and abdomen with a darker head
•  Larva – 1mm long, translucent white.

Lifecycle

•  The winged adults (alates) emerge from the nest and swarm. After a short flight, they land and shed their wings.
•  Once the females attract a male they seek a suitable site, e.g. a crack in a dry timber beam, and begin to excavate a chamber.
•  The development of the colony is slow and after 1 year, the King and Queen may only have produced 3 or 4 larvae.
•  The winged adults (alates) emerge from the nest and swarm. After a short flight, they land and shed their wings.
•  The larvae develop into workers, soldiers or alates.

Habits

•  They infest dry timber, e.g. structural timbers.
•  They expand their nests by eating through timber in all directions; eventually leaving just a hollow, yet otherwise normal appearing piece of timber.
•  They are most frequently detected by the frass that is ejected from the infected timber.