Oct 7, 2011 – The Queen Is Dead, Long Live Another One
QUESTION:
If a queen of a colony of termites is killed do the termites find another queen for the nest. How do the termites go about finding another queen?
ANSWER:
It's a fairly long interview process and references are important. No, really, as luck would have it a termite colony is composed of males and females, and quite often there already are "supplemental" or secondary queens doing some of the egg-laying duties. The Primary Queen that started the colony is by far the most prolific egg producer, but the few to many secondary queens do their part. If the primary queen dies, which ultimately she must, the colony lives on with these secondary queens taking over a bigger role. If there are enough of these secondary reproductives in a colony, as may happen with subterranean termites, together they often produce the majority of the eggs, although the primary queen still produces more than any other single reproductive.
The primary queen and "king" are the pair that began the colony. They were the ones that had wings, left their own parent colony in a swarm, mated and formed the new colony. Of course, the primary queen eventually begins to lose that girlish figure as her abdomen swells with the enlarging reproductive organs. In a mature colony she will be very easy to pick out. For our native subterranean termites a life span of around 10 years is expected for these primary queens, but in some kinds of termites around the world it is suggested that this queen may live to 25 years or longer. Since it is known that some termite colonies are up to 100 years old there obviously has been a succession of different reproductives keeping the colony going.
The secondary reproductives are essentially nymphs (females) whose reproductive organs begin to develop, either due to a need with the loss of the primary queen or just as a normal process for putting more reproductives in the colony. The secondary reproductives will be somewhat larger than the primary queen but they still remain fairly small and without the massively expanded abdomen.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
If a queen of a colony of termites is killed do the termites find another queen for the nest. How do the termites go about finding another queen?
ANSWER:
It's a fairly long interview process and references are important. No, really, as luck would have it a termite colony is composed of males and females, and quite often there already are "supplemental" or secondary queens doing some of the egg-laying duties. The Primary Queen that started the colony is by far the most prolific egg producer, but the few to many secondary queens do their part. If the primary queen dies, which ultimately she must, the colony lives on with these secondary queens taking over a bigger role. If there are enough of these secondary reproductives in a colony, as may happen with subterranean termites, together they often produce the majority of the eggs, although the primary queen still produces more than any other single reproductive.
The primary queen and "king" are the pair that began the colony. They were the ones that had wings, left their own parent colony in a swarm, mated and formed the new colony. Of course, the primary queen eventually begins to lose that girlish figure as her abdomen swells with the enlarging reproductive organs. In a mature colony she will be very easy to pick out. For our native subterranean termites a life span of around 10 years is expected for these primary queens, but in some kinds of termites around the world it is suggested that this queen may live to 25 years or longer. Since it is known that some termite colonies are up to 100 years old there obviously has been a succession of different reproductives keeping the colony going.
The secondary reproductives are essentially nymphs (females) whose reproductive organs begin to develop, either due to a need with the loss of the primary queen or just as a normal process for putting more reproductives in the colony. The secondary reproductives will be somewhat larger than the primary queen but they still remain fairly small and without the massively expanded abdomen.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
