King

Termites are unusual eusocial insects in that they have both a king and queen (as opposed to just a queen). The king helps found the colony with the queen and will continue to mate with the queen during his life. There may be more than one pair of king and queens in the termite mound.

An illustration of the castes within a termite colony:

1. Primary king
2. Primary queen
3. Secondary queen
4. Tertiary queen
5. Soldiers
6. Worker

Related terms

• Blattodea
• Castes
• Eusocial
• Isoptera
• Nanitic
• Worker

Related pages on this web site

• Cockroaches - Order Blattodea
• Termites

See other words beginning with K