Termite Identification
Here is an identification request from our termite identification page.
A gentleman has found flying ants near his home in Northern NSW.
From: Jeremy P
We’ve just moved to a timber house in Thirroul, NSW. A coastal area with lots of creeks running off the escarpment. A termites paradise I would imagine. Anyway – I had the house checked when I bought it for termites as previous damage was obvious.
There is currently no activity I am told which is great… however… when we’ve had some unseasonably warm days like today ( 32°c) in October there has been swarms of flying ants. I caught one and have attached the photographs in the hope you can let me know what kind of insect it is?
Unfortunately for him, the wings fell off when I was trying to photograph him!
Also, could there be various types of white ant in the same area? Or is that rare?
Thanks for a great website.
Jeremy
District: Thirroul, NSW
Good news. bad news, Jeremy.
Come to think of it, in Thirroul, it is hardly news at all… Your insect is a termite alate (or reproductive) and termites are not newsworthy in Thirroul.
As you’ve described, the colonising flight is usually in the first warm evenings of the summer and they will fly from trees, posts and buildings which give them a little starting altitude so they can get some distance before fluttering to earth. Their wings are of no further use to them so they shed them.
If the flight didn’t originate from your house (and you would have noticed) then that is good, and the other good news is that around 99% of the reproductives never get to establish a colony.
And now here’s the sales pitch: placing Termite monitors around your property gives you a high probability chance of intercepting termites scouting for food before they find a way into your home.
Hoping this helps,
Ion Staunton
