I hadn’t really thought about this but I’d been thinking that there was only one species of termite in the top end, duurrr.  We have seen at least two species.  This cathedral like structure is the home of the cathedral termite (Nasutitiermes triodiae).  These mounds were at the so called Magnetic Termite sight – we found better examples of those outside the park.  I’d been looking forward to seeing these for weeks – it was the reason we came to Litchfield and it was a bit of a let-down.  You couldn’t get near most of the termite mounds.  However, this was one of the Cathedral mounds you could.  It’s over 5m tall and could be over 50 years old.  Considering the termite is only about 5mm long not bad.  Here’s Paul

And me

And Paul

There are several forms within the termite colony: alates, soldiers, workers, nymphs, larvae and the king and queen.  Alates are the winged reproductive termites.  They have a dark bands (tergites) across their abdomens and are larger than the workers or nymphs.  The soldiers have dark heads and pincer-like jaws and their job is to defend the colony.  The workers have no protruding jaws, pale heads and grey/white bodies.  Larvae are juvenile termites that are small and white.  Nymphs are immature productive termites.  Big with large white/grey abdomens and small wing buds, they mature into alates.  The queen termite produces eggs for the colony in the royal chamber usually at the base of the termite mound and surrounding by workers and the King (although he is apparently difficult to spot).    The little worker termites are the mound builders.  We saw these cathedral mounds beside the roadside and so stopped for photo opportunity.

These guys always build their nests on well drained soils and these are the ones we have been seeing all over the place.  Termites are often called white ants in Australia, because you can see through their bodies. You can make out another mound behind my head.  The colour of the mound depends on soil type.