Termite Pests of Northern California

Termite Pests of Northern California

Termites are social insects that play an important role in the ecosystem as decomposers of dead wood and other cellulose containing material. However, termites become pests when they invade and damage man-made structures. Termites are estimated to cause over one billion U.S. dollars in structural damage every year in the United States (Su & Scheffrahn 1990). Termites in northern California are classified into one of three groups according to their nesting behavior: dampwood, drywood, or subterranean termites. Because each of these groups differs in their biology, recommended treatment methods also differ between each group. Therefore, it is important to be able to identify each type of termite before recommending a particular type of treatment.
Discussion
A typical termite colony consists of a queen, a king, soldiers, and workers. The queen is the largest individual termite in the colony. She lays eggs which eventually develop into soldiers, workers, and winged reproductive forms called alates. Alates mate within swarms synchronized with the time of year and weather, and each paired queen and king will locate a new nesting site to establish a new colony. Soldiers and workers are sterile and typically blind. A soldier is characterized by its large head and large mandibles. Soldiers are responsible for defending the colony. Workers are the most numerous caste and perform the bulk of the work, including foraging, maintenance and expansion of the nest, and tending to and feeding the queen, king, and nymphs. A termite’s diet consists only of wood, but most cannot digest cellulose on their own. Symbiotic microorganisms in the termite gut help digest the cellulose and produce essential
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nutrients for the termite. Pest termites in California are classified into three groups based on their nesting behavior.
Dampwood termites only infest moist, often rotting wood. Because of their high moisture requirement, dampwood termites are only found in the coastal regions of northern California, where they are a typical pest of beach houses (Lewis 2001). The Pacific dampwood termite, Zootermopsis angusticollis, is the largest dampwood termite species in California (Anonymous 2005). At nearly one inch in length, dampwood termites have the largest body size of the pest termites in California. Soldiers are characterized by their large, flat, brown heads with large black mandibles. Workers and nymphs are white, and the contents of the gut may be visible through the exoskeleton, giving the abdomen a spotted appearance. Alates have dark brown bodies with brown wings. Dampwood termites produce elongate pellets with rounded ends. Up to 4,000 individuals make up a single colony (Anonymous 2005). Chemical treatment is often unnecessary. Removal of the infested wood and remedying the excessive moisture condition is usually sufficient for control (Su & Scheffrahn 1990).
Drywood termite colonies are smaller, numbering about 2,000 individuals, and can be difficult to detect. Unlike dampwood termites, drywood termites can tolerate very low moisture conditions, and infest dry, undecomposed wood. The western drywood termite, Incisitermes minor, is the principal pest species in northern California. Drywood termites produce distinct elongate pellets with rounded

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