AllPro Pest Management Inc.
Providing Pest and Moisture Control You Deserve By Professionals Who Care!
P.O. Box 80246 Charleston, SC 29416-0246 843.852.0230 / 843.852.0907 fax c.2007 AllPro Residential Services Co., AllPro Pest Management, Inc.
One easy difference to identify between termites and flying ants is their shape. An ant's body has three individuated segments: the head, thorax, and abdomen. The joints where they meet look like a neck and a waist. Yet a termite's two segments, the head and the thorax, look more like one piece. Species of ants have a variety of colors, from red to brown to black, but swarming termites are usually shiny black.
Another simple anatomical difference is their wingspans. Although both kinds of insects develop two pairs of wings just to mate, reproduce, and found new colonies, their wings look dissimilar. A termite's back wings are visible beneath the overlaying front wings. If you outstretch both pairs, you'll see they're actually the same length. On a flying ant, the back wings hide beneath the front wings, so they are shorter. Their wings have tiny, visible veins. It's easy to knock off the wings of a termite, so you'll probably see them scattered around the site of a swarm.
Finally, a noticeable difference between flying ants and termites are their antennae. Look closely and you'll see that ant's antennae curve or bend inwards, topped by a ball called a club. But a termite's antennae gently point outwards without any kinks, bends, or knobs at the end. To further identify them, you'll more likely find termites around wood, where they nest and feed, such as in the rafters in the attic or old furniture. Most ants, of course, prefer the kitchen where they snack on sweets like sugar or fruit.
Ants and termites in their swarming or flying stage are merely fulfilling one cycle of reproduction. Ants go through a "complete" metamorphosis, which means they develop from egg to larva to pupa to adult, or "alate." However, termites only go through a gradual metamorphosis when they go from egg to nymph to alate. During reproduction, a male winged ant mates with a female winged ant. The male dies and the female flies to create a new colony. With termites, both males and females join each other to travel to another place.
