DampWood Termite Species

Understand Dampwood termite and their habitat

Dampwood Species

Family

- Termopsidae

- Archotermopsidae

As their name suggests, the dampwood termites can only survive by living off of wood that contains high amounts of moisture. Although the dampwood termites can cause some damage, they are not as notoriously known to cause as much damage to buildings as the drywood termites. They occasionally have been carried to other parts of the country through wood shipments, but have not been able to become established in these areas due to undesirable environmental conditions

Unlike the more common drywood termites, the dampwood termites are very tolerant of wet conditions and build their colonies in damp wood such as rotting stumps and logs or other types of wood debris from coniferous trees. Individuals living within the colony will live the entirety of their life within the same piece of wood. They will never leave to forage, as the wood is also their food source.However, winged or alate females will leave on a mating flight in order to fulfill their primary role of the queen. Winged individuals are known to be great fliers and can reach distances of up to 350 meters. When the colony becomes too large for its habitat, it will swarm, however, this puts them at risk for exposure to pathogens and possible increased mortality. Swarms only contain about 50-60 individuals.