Wildlife of Henry W. Coe State Park
Banana Slug · Blackfly Larvae · California Sister · Checkerspot · Common Buckeye · Convergent Lady Beetle · Crab Spider · Darkling Beetle · Hairy Mygalomorph · Lorquin's Admiral · Milkweed Bug · Monarch · Termites · Tick · Two-tailed Swallowtail · Variable Checkerspot
Termites
Winged termites on Blue Ridge.
October 1975.
Detail of image below.
Photo copyright © by Dave Hildebrand,
used with permission.
Wider view.
Photo copyright © by Dave Hildebrand,
used with permission.
Termites are social insects. The kinds common in the California Coast Ranges live underground or
in rotting wood. Normally, the workers are sterile except for one queen, whose function is to lay eggs. None of the colony members are winged, but in fall, fertile winged males and females are produced, and these set off in dispersal flights to mate and start new colonies (at which time the wings are shed).
Those in the image are undoubtedly just emerging from an underground burrow, and have not yet been motivated to fly.
While termites are destructive of wooden buildings, they are invaluable in the wild as decomposers which help make the nutrients in downed trees available to many other forms of life.
Henry W. Coe State Park, California
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