Tropical Rough-headed Drywood Termite vs Ant Cricket

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Tropical Rough-headed Drywood Termite Ant Cricket
Scientific Name Cryptotermes dudleyi Myrmecophilus acervorum
Order Blattodea Orthoptera
Family Kalotermitidae Gryllidae
Size Workers 4-5 mm, soldiers 4-5 mm 2-3 mm
Habitat Woodlands Woodlands
Diet Wood Feeders Parasites
Regions Pantropical (Africa, Asia, Pacific Islands) Europe, Western Asia
Conservation Not Evaluated Least Concern

Tropical Rough-headed Drywood Termite

A pantropical drywood termite that infests dead wood and structural timber. Soldiers have a distinctive rough, phragmotic head used to block nest tunnels.

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Did You Know?

Soldiers use their plug-shaped heads to physically block tunnel entrances, preventing ant invasions.

Ant Cricket

A minute, wingless cricket that lives inside ant nests as a social parasite. It is oval-shaped and moves quickly among its host ants.

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Did You Know?

It acquires its host ants' cuticular hydrocarbons to smell like them, allowing it to live undetected inside their colony.