Termites, also known as insects, belong to the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Isoptera, and live a social life similar to that of ants. Their social classes are queens, kings, soldiers, and workers. The bodies of termites are weak and flat, and can be white, light yellow, russet or dark brown. The body colors of various species are different. The mouthparts are typically chewing and the antennae are bead-shaped. There are long-winged, short-winged and wingless types. The winged species have two pairs of long and narrow membranous wings. The size, shape and venation of the wings are similar, so they are called Isoptera. After a short flight, termite wings can fall off from the unique transverse slits at the base. Termites are social insects that live in groups and have complex organizational divisions of labor. Individuals within a group can be divided into two major types in terms of morphology and division of labor, namely reproductive and non-reproductive. l. Reproductive type: They are sexual female and male ants. Their duty is to maintain old colonies and create new ones. There are three levels in this type. 1) Large-winged or winged type: The body is ossified, yellow, brown or black, with two pairs of well-developed wings. After losing its wings, it can become the father and mother ants that create a new colony. Every spring and summer. In the sultry evening after rain, a large number of long-winged breeding ants suddenly fly out from the ant nest and fly low near the building not far from the nest. The flight time is very short. This phenomenon is called nuptial flight or swarm flight ( group). The swarms of ants were flying low in the sky, as if they were having a dance party, each freely choosing their partner without restraint. Those who like each other fly to the ground, take off their wings, and the male and female chase each other in pairs, usually with the female in front and the male behind, to complete the important event of marriage, find a suitable place, build a new nest, lay eggs, breed offspring, and establish a new group. This pair of newly married male and female ants will be the mother and father of the new colony in the future, and they will also be the queen and king of the new colony. The couple lived a lifelong monogamous life in a civilized society. Termite nuptial flight swarms can often be seen in various places south of the Yangtze River in my country, but not all individuals in the nuptial flight can form new colonies in pairs. When they fly out in large numbers, they are often eaten by various birds, predatory insects or other animals. Eaten, only a few of them tie the knot and become partners. Even though they are a minority, they are enough to maintain the reproduction of their race and cause harm to wooden buildings. (2) Short-winged type: It is called the supplementary reproductive type and is more common among ground-dwelling species. (3) Wingless type: They are also supplementary reproductive ants, completely wingless individuals. Only exists in extremely primitive types. 2. Non-reproductive type: refers to termites without the ability to reproduce. They are wingless and have degraded reproductive organs. They are mainly responsible for labor and combat tasks, so they are divided into worker ants and soldier ants. (1) Worker ants: They are the largest number in the ant colony and are responsible for many complicated tasks in the nest, such as building ant mounds, digging tunnels, building ant roads, cultivating bacterial beds, collecting food, raising young ants and soldier ants, and caring for ant eggs, etc. . Among non-soldier ant species, they are also responsible for defending against foreign enemies. (2) Soldier ants: Although there are male and female ants, they cannot reproduce. Soldier ants have long and highly ossified heads and well-developed upper jaws, but they have lost their feeding function and become a weapon to defend themselves against enemies. They can also use their upper jaws to block holes, ant passages, or entrances to palaces. Since the soldier ants have lost their feeding function, food is fed by the worker ants. There are two types of soldier ants: Large-jawed soldier ants - the upper jaw forms various strange shapes, like a large two-toothed fork. Elephant Trunk Soldier Ant - The head extends into the shape of an elephant trunk. When it fights an enemy, it can spray out colloidal secretions to smear the enemy. Termites are a progressive metamorphosis species with incomplete metamorphosis and a complex life history. Termites can be divided into two categories according to their living habits. First, wood-dwelling termites: groups of varying sizes build nests in hollow parts of wooden buildings, such as wooden doors and windows, wooden floors, wooden houses, railway sleepers, wooden bridges, dead trees, etc., and feed on the wood. Fiber is a major pest of wood products. The wood becomes hollow due to wood decay and the building is prone to collapse. Railway sleepers are infested, which affects their service life and poses a great threat to traffic safety. The second is soil-dwelling termites: they build nests in the soil below the ground, or the nests are tower-shaped above the ground, which are called ant mounds. Soil-dwelling termites feed on trees, leaves and fungi. Speaking of termite feeding, there is another interesting thing. According to "Lingnan Miscellaneous Notes" (written by Wu Zhenfang) published during the Kangxi period, in 1684 AD, thousands of taels of silver were found missing from a yamen bank. Officials were frightened and searched everywhere but failed to find them. Later, some shiny white coins were found under the wall. They dug up a termite nest under the corner of the wall. The officials were puzzled at the time, so they put the termites into the furnace and burned them to death. As a result, silver was burned out. If this record is true, there is no doubt that termites can eat silver. There have been reports of termites eating metal and cables in my country and abroad, but it is impossible to find out what kind of termites they are. Termites are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical areas, and are more common in provinces south of the Yangtze River in my country. The worker ants, soldier ants and queen ants among the termites live in the nest all their lives and never see the light of day. These ant nests are often found in tree trunks, underground, and in the wood of buildings. If the suitcases, wooden furniture, bookcases, etc. in your home are piled up and not moved for many years, they can easily become termite nests. These three types of termites are wingless and never go out to forage or move around. So unless we find their nests, we never get a chance to see them. Among termites, only the male ants and the female ants responsible for building a new family have wings. Whenever the summer storm is about to come and the temperature is too hot, they fly out of their nests by the thousands and fill the sky and the house. The oily yellow "flying ants" we often see under the lamp on summer nights have very thin and brittle wings that fall off when touched. They are this kind of termites.