"White Headed" Subterranean Termite Soldiers

This video from Glenn Gordon of HomeGuard Distributors Inc. provides a close look at some "White Headed" subterranean termite soldiers that were taken from a captured reproduction cell. They were captured using an exaggerated "thermal shadow" casting HomeGuard Termite Monitor. There were thousands of these captured in the same location. The first close-up termite shown is one of two female White Soldiers, with what appears as a solid ovipositor. Gordon said, "We found that it was not just a part of the multi-level shedding process that the rest of this group exhibits, as they exhibit all known stages of a White Soldier pre-post shed. The reverse light shifts allow one to see the fully expanded, soon-to-be-shed, transparent exoskeleton with all of the typical stages. This includes the transparent parachute-like hind-gut being blown out to shed. In a few of the examples you will notice a small dark streak. I am suggesting it is what remained of their last meal and clearly not the structures in question on two of the females. There was a single egg recovered attached to one of those females, which fell off when transferred."

Видео "White Headed" Subterranean Termite Soldiers канала Entomological Society of America