Yes, it is Termite Awareness Week in the USA!
As a special offer to celebrate, all Termitat orders will receive a free Termitat T-Shirt until this Sunday, April 1. See the shirt at https://termitat.com/product/the-xylophile-t-shirt/ Be sure to include your preferred size on the first line of the Billing Details page in the “Order Notes” box. If you want to order additional shirts, find them on the Order page.
The photo above shows three small comensal insects called thrips that many times share the wood home in your Termitat with the termite colony. Thrips are extremely small. These are about the same size as ONE antenna segment on a termite. They are not parasitic but seem to thrive in the debris of the colony and perhaps beneficial in keeping the wood habitat healthy and free of invasive fungus. See a very interesting image of a typical Termitat by a company called GigaMacro in Napa, California. The image can be enlarged to an amazing resolution, allowing you to see the thrips. See if you can find this group above! https://viewer.gigamacro.com/view/bXj7vScZtcs7uW4e?x1=14892.94&y1=-8528.38&res1=53.67&rot1=0.00
There have been a lot of new articles that have come out on termites and their insect relatives. My favorites this week are listed below. Be sure to open them up and become even more knowledgeable of these cellulastic champions.
Termite queen, king recognition pheromone identified
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180319155728.htm
Study shows use of feces as building material by termites serves as antibiotic
https://phys.org/news/2013-09-feces-material-termites-antibiotic.html#nRlv
How Termites Reveal The Rules Behind Radical Innovation
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sunniegiles/2018/03/16/how-termites-reveal-the-rules-behind-radical-innovation/#49f45a085e87
Termite gut holds a secret to breaking down plant biomass
https://energy.wisc.edu/news/termite-gut-holds-secret-breaking-down-plant-biomass
Attenborough’s and the Empire of the Ants 2018 – YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc-QqOIvq5I
Termites sacrifice their elderly in ant wars
https://phys.org/news/2018-03-termites-sacrifice-elderly-ant-wars.html
Insects Are World’s First Farmers: Termites Started Farming About 25 Million Years Before Human Agriculture
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/166886/20160625/insects-are-world-s-first-farmers-termites-started-farming-about-25-million-years-before-human-agriculture.htm
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