Termites
: who are they ?
what do they do ?
Termites whose name comes from Latin word “termes” (rodent worm), are insects able to make serious damages in houses.
They belong to ISOPTERES order. In France we often call them “white ants” because of their pale colour and their social organisation, but they are very different from real ants.
Out of the few 2000 termites species living in tropical regions, only 4 are known in Europe :
RETICULITERMES
lucifugus and RETICULITERMES santonensis :
these 2 kinds have a good developed workers caste. They live by colonies
in an underground nest, they hollow galleries in building woods, in trees
and small shrubs indeed. They make serious damages in walls. They withstand
lower temperatures better than kalotermes and colonise France to The North
of Paris.
Third specie, coming from USA, RETICULITERMES flavipes, became acclimatized to our regions and took place in many French towns and also Germany (Hamburg). Until today in Europe they only attack woods of buildings.
KALOTERMES flavicollis : This specie basically live in buildings or dead woods. We find it organised in small colonies (a royal couple, some soldiers, some youngsters but very few workers) We can find it along Mediterranean coasts.
Although their presence dates back prehistory age, it is only during the 10 last years that depredations revealed themselves particularly extensive.
The termite, social insect living in colony, basically eats cellulose (wood, paper, clothes, linoleum, carpet etc…). It lives in darkness and rather in damp places. It is often mistaken for an ant because of its shape and size. People call it “white ant”.
Termites get into buildings passing in waterproofness and distension jointings, in pipes and electric shafts or in underfloor spaces, rock jointings or every other fissures. Urban heating systems further termites migration from one building to another.
