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The soldier caste has anatomical and behavioural specialisations, and their only real aim is to defend the colony. Many soldiers have large heads with highly modified strong jaws therefore enlarged they cannot feed themselves. Instead, such as juveniles, they are fed by workers.5556 Fontanelles, simple holes in the forehead which exude defensive secretions, are a characteristic of the family Rhinotermitidae.57 Many species are easily identified using the qualities of the soldiers' bigger and darker head and large mandibles.53 Among certain termites, soldiers may utilize their globular (phragmotic) heads to obstruct their narrow tunnels.58 Different types of soldiers include minor and major soldiers, and nasutes, that have a horn-like nozzle frontal projection (a nasus).53 These unique soldiers are able to spray noxious, sticky secretions containing diterpenes in their enemies.59 Nitrogen fixation plays an important part in nasute nutrition.60.
The reproductive caste of a mature colony includes a prosperous female and man, known as the queen and king.61 The queen of the colony is responsible for egg production for its colony. Unlike in ants, the king mates with her for life.62 In some species, the abdomen of this queen swells up radically to increase fecundity, a characteristic known as physogastrism.61 Depending on the species, the queen starts producing reproductive winged alates at a certain time of the year, and huge swarms emerge in the colony when nuptial flight begins.
A young termite nymph. Nymphs first moult into workers, but others might further moult to become soldiers or alates.
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Termites are often compared with the social Hymenoptera (ants and various species of bees and wasps), but their differing evolutionary origins result in major differences in life span. In the eusocial Hymenoptera, the employees are exclusively female. Men (drones) are haploid and develop from unfertilised eggs, while females (both employees and the queen) are both diploid and grow from fertilised eggs.
Depending on species, both male and female workers may have different roles in a termite colony.63.
The entire life span of a termite begins with an egg, but is different from that of a bee or ant in that it goes through a developmental process called incomplete metamorphosis, with egg, nymph and adult stages.64 Nymphs resemble small adults, and undergo a series of moults as they develop.
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The development of nymphs into adults can take months; the time frame depends on food availability, temperature, and the general population of this colony. Since nymphs are unable to feed themselves, employees must feed them, but employees also get involved in the social life of the colony and have certain different tasks to accomplish such as foraging, building or maintaining the nest or tending to the queen.5367 Pheromones govern the caste system in termite colonies, preventing all but a very few of the termites from becoming fertile queens.68.
Termite alates only depart the colony when a nuptial flight takes place. Alate males and females pair up together and then land in search of a suitable place for a colony.70 A termite king and queen do not mate until they find such a spot. When they dothey excavate a chamber big enough for both, close up the entrance and proceed to partner.70 After mating, the pair never go outside and spend the remainder of their lives in the nest.
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For example, alates in certain species emerge during the day in summer while others emerge during winter.71 The nuptial flight may also begin at dusk, when the alates swarm around regions with a great deal of lights. The time when nuptial flight begins depends on the environmental conditions, the time of day, humidity, wind speed and precipitation.71 The number of termites in a colony also varies, with the bigger species normally having 1001,000 individuals.
The queen only lays 1020 eggs in the very early phases of the colony, but lays as many as 1,000 per day when the colony is a few years old.53 At maturity, a primary queen has a great capability to lay eggs. In certain species, the adult queen has a greatly distended abdomen and may produce 40,000 eggs per day.72 Both mature ovaries may have some 2,000 ovarioles each.73 The abdomen increases the queen's body length to several times more than before mating and reduces her ability to move freely; attendant workers offer assistance.