Termite colonies

Termite colonies are groups of termites living together, they all work together to benefit eachother as they are eusocial.

Castes
All the termite colonies have castes, castes are:
 * Worker: in every termite colony there are workers, they care for the young and gather food.
 * Small and large workers: in some termites like macrotermes carbonarius there are 2 or more kinds of workers, they often divide labor between them.
 * Soldier: Almost all termite species have soldiers, their jaws are specially adapted primarily to kill ants.
 * Small/large soldiers: Just like small and large workers some termites (including macrotermes c.) have 2 sizes of soldiers.
 * Alate: commonly called swarmers, alates are the termites (or other eusocial creatures) who can and will fly off, mate and become kings and queens.
 * King: kings are male reproductives who will mate with the queen varios times in her life.
 * Queen: Queens are the center of the colony, the Queen is the mother of all the termites and as such must be protected above all else, if she dies the entire colony is destroyed so termites take all precautions when protecting her. She is cleaned by her subjects to keep parasites and bits of dirt off her.

Index

 * Eusocial: primarily sterile arthropods living together with only one or a few reproductives, they work together to care for the young and protect their nests. known examples are ants, bees, wasps, as well as a few species of aphids, thrips (creatures related to silverfish), and shrimp, there are a few non-arthropodic eusocial creatures like naked mole rats.
 * Caste: a labor division between members of a colony