Twig-girdling Longhorn vs Globe Termite

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Twig-girdling Longhorn Globe Termite
Scientific Name Ceroplesis thunbergii Globitermes sulphureus
Order Coleoptera Blattodea
Family Cerambycidae Termitidae
Size 20-35 mm 4-7 mm
Habitat Orchards Woodlands
Diet Wood Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Southern Africa Southeast Asia, from Thailand to Indonesia
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Twig-girdling Longhorn

A grey and black longhorn beetle with pale speckled markings. It girdles living twigs to create suitable egg-laying sites.

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Did You Know?

Females methodically chew a neat groove around a branch until it dies, providing their larvae with drying wood to feed on.

Globe Termite

A Southeast Asian termite with soldiers that practice autothysis, or suicidal self-destruction. When threatened, soldiers contract their abdominal muscles to rupture their body wall, releasing a yellow, sticky secretion that entangles attackers. Colonies build small carton nests.

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Did You Know?

Soldiers literally explode when attacked, rupturing a gland filled with toxic yellow liquid that solidifies into a sticky trap, sacrificing themselves for the colony.