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| | Formosan subterranean termite soldiers (red colored heads)
and workers (pale colored heads).| Formosan subterranean termite
soldiers (red colored heads) and workers (pale colored heads).
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently,
were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera (see
taxonomy below), but are now accepted as the epifamily
Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea. While termites
are commonly known, especially in Australia, as "white ants,"
they are only distantly related to the ants. As eusocial
insects, termites live in colonies that, at maturity, number
from several hundred to several million individuals. Colonies
use decentralised, self-organised systems of activity guided by
swarm intelligence which exploit food sources and environments
unavailable to any single insect acting alone. A typical colony
contains nymphs (semi-mature young)