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The soldier caste has anatomical and behavioural specialisations, and their only real purpose is to defend the colony. Many soldiers have large heads with highly modified powerful jaws therefore enlarged they cannot feed themselves. Instead, like juveniles, they are fed by workers.5556 Fontanelles, simple holes in the eyebrow which exude defensive secretions, are a feature of their family Rhinotermitidae.57 Many species have been easily identified using the characteristics of the soldiers' larger and darker head and massive mandibles.53 Among certain termites, soldiers can use 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 can spray noxious, sticky secretions containing diterpenes at 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 male, known as the queen and king.61 The queen of this colony is responsible for egg production for its colony. Unlike in ants, the king mates with her for life.62 In certain species, the abdomen of the queen swells up dramatically to increase fecundity, a feature known as physogastrism.61 Depending on the species, the queen begins producing reproductive winged alates at a certain time of the year, and enormous swarms emerge from the colony when nuptial flight begins.
A young termite nymph. Nymphs first moult into workers, but others may farther moult to become soldiers 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 entirely female. Males (drones) are haploid and develop from unfertilised eggs, while females (both employees and the queen) are both diploid and develop from fertilised eggs.
Depending on species, male and female employees may have different roles in a termite colony.63.
The entire life cycle 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 phases.64 Nymphs resemble little adults, and undergo a series of moults as they grow.
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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 the colony. Since nymphs are unable to feed themselves, workers must feed thembut workers also get involved in the social life of the colony and have certain different activities to achieve 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 men 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 place. When they dothey excavate a room big enough for both, shut up the entrance and move to mate.70 After his explanation mating, the set never go outside and spend the rest of their lives in the nest.
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By way of example, alates in certain species appear during the daytime in summer while others emerge during the 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 larger species typically having 1001,000 individuals.
The queen only lays 1020 eggs in the very early stages of the colony, but lays as many as 1,000 per day when the colony is a few years old.53 At adulthood, a main queen has a fantastic capability to lay eggs. In some species, the mature queen has a greatly distended abdomen and may produce 40,000 eggs per day.72 The two adult 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 provide assistance.