Termite Castes
Termite colonies are divided into distinct castes with clearly-defined divisions of labor. Together, they assure the colony's survival and growth.
The Queen
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The Queen's main duty as the primary or sole reproductive female of the colony is to lay eggs, and in a year she may lay tens of millions of them. In mature colonies, supplemental reproductives may also lay eggs, making for a staggeringly rapid potential rate of colony growth.
The queen also secretes chemical messengers called pheromones that regulate various aspects of the colony's life. It is believed that these pheromones directly control such things as the gender and caste of other members and their respective duties within the colony.
The King
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The king is the male member of a termite marriage. Back before the colony was first established, he emerged from the parent colony with his bride in search of a suitable place to establish a nest of their own. Hundreds or thousands of other mating pairs did the same thing, but most of them perished in the attempt.
Once the king and queen found a cozy place of their own, he helped raise the first generation of offspring. But ever since that generation grew up and became workers, the king's life has consisted solely of his reproductive duties.
Worker Termites
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The great majority of members of a given termite colony are workers. These harmless-looking, grub-like insects are also the ones who do all the damage.
Workers alone possess the mouthparts needed to chew wood, and they feed the rest of the colonies members from the wood that they forage. Their duties also include maintaining the colony's system of mud tubes, caring for young, and performing housekeeping duties.
Alates (or Swarmers)
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Alates (commonly called swarmers) are sexually mature, winged termites of both sexes who will leave the parent colony in a swarm to establish colonies of their own. Most will perish in the attempt, their shed wings and carcasses the only memorial to their noble effort.
Quite often, a homeowner will first become aware that their home has a termite problem when they find dead swarmers or their shed wings along basement walls, in window frames, on sill plates, or in other areas in and around their homes. But by the time a colony has produced swarmers, it has been in existence for several years.
Soldier Termites
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Like swarmers, soldier termites only exist in mature termite colonies. Their job is to protect the colony from predators (mainly other insects). Their large, hardened heads and powerful mandibles are adapted for fighting and are their most obvious identifying features.
Soldier termites are incapable of chewing wood and must be fed by workers. Their presence is nonetheless significant, however, as it indicates that the colony is a mature one that has been in existence for at least a few years.