The Dampwood termites comprise a small, primitive family, Termopsidae of the termites family, Isotepra.
They include four or five existing genera with 13 to 20 living species but can be split into several subfamilies.
They may be a disturbance compared to the drywood termites (Kalotermitidae), whose destructive inclinations pale, as they do not cause widespread disruption to human-made structures.
As the name Dampwood termite implies, they eat wood, damp wood, and even rotting, which are useless to humans.
So they are often found in fallen logs, decayed woods, tree stumps in forests, and the decaying wood found in buildings, fences, or other structures with high moisture content.
The Dampwood termites are the most enormous of all species of termites and can be about 1/3 inch to over 1/2 inch in length. As a result of their size capacity and proficiency to damage wood faster than their cousins, the drywood termites and subterranean termites are considered significant economic pests in areas of the Pacific Coast.
Dampwood termites, often called rottenwood termites, have moist, wet areas such as wood in contact with the ground, trees, rotten leaves, sheds, fence posts, and other fields.
The moisture in the forest must be abundant enough to attract the dampwood termite; otherwise, they cannot survive as the dampwood termites need a steady water source or close contact with water and rarely, if ever, cannot live in a high-humidity climate without water.
They need high amounts of moisture, humidity, and access to water for sustenance, so they tend to nest damp logs in trees and untreated posts.
The Florida Dampwood termite, one of the species of Dampwood termites, is distinctive as it causes the least damage and rarely infests homes. At the same time, the Nevada Dampwood and the Pacific Dampwood Termite, on the contrary, can do enormous amounts of damage to homes and are deemed an economic pest in these areas.
Dampwood termites are found in areas; cold, coastal, and humid with low altitudes, such as Oregan, Washington State, and in the mountains of Nevada, Montana, and Idaho; they are the largest of all the termite species and can infest homes, causing substantial damage.
Scientific Classification
- Scientific Name: Porotermes Adamsoni
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Isoptera
- Family: Termopsidae
Characteristics
The dampwood termite is giant compared to the dry wood termite and the subterranean termite but naturally forms smaller colonies; maybe they believe there is strength in “small numbers.”
Dampwood termites have large heads with mandibles positioned in the front, and their Physical characteristics include the following:
- Soldiers have long brown of black mouths and flattened brown heads and can be up to 20mm long.
- The dampwood termites’ nymphs can also be over 20mm long.
- Alates are usually dark brown with four pairs of same-length brown-colored wings. They can be over 25 mm long; this includes their wings. They have a straight-sided body and straight antennae.
- Nymphs have spotted patterns on the abdomen, which is caused by food in the intestines and are cream in color.
Behavior
Worker caste in this species is absent, so the nymphs are the laborers in the colony.
Particular microorganisms in the dampwood termites’ digestive system allow them to digest wood.
Dampwood termites swarm in small amounts at various intervals annually, influenced by temperature, light, barometric pressure, and humidity.
Feeding Habits
Dampwood Termites eat deteriorating, rotten wood and other cellulose materials in dying trees, homes, utility poles, and furniture with high moisture content, digested through the support of symbiotic protozoa and bacteria.
They may also feed on injured or dead colony members and other termites within the same habitat. The cellulose found in plants is the primary food sustenance of all species of termites.
They may find food sources in furniture and elsewhere within the home, in dying trees, poles, and other structures with high moisture content.
Habitats
Dampwood Termites do not need soil connection for moisture but require wood with high moisture quantity.
They often nest inside woods halfway buried in the ground, such as fallen branches or tree stumps. Dry wood termite prefers non-decaying wood, unlike Dampwood Termites associated with deadwood.
Dampwood termites can nest around leaky showers and tubs, rotting planks of an old deck, leaky roofs, and other construction elements with insufficient ventilation that could eventually dry them.
Numerous species of Dampwood termites have been found across the United States. The Nevada Dampwood- commonly found in indoor frames of buildings, baseboards, and fence posts; is inclined toward the drier mountain regions of the Sierras.
This species also exists around the coast of Northern California. They are distinctive from the Pacific species in that they attack moist wood only. Swarming usually occurs in late summer evenings after rainfall.
The Florida Dampwood- this variety is a common pest of building structures in the Florida Keys and most southeastern Florida parts. This species is like damp and solid logs close to ocean water may also inhabit woods under the soil, although soil contact is not required.
Destructive Nature
Correlated to dry wood termites, dampwood termites naturally do not cause such extensive destruction to human-made structures. However, damp wood termites can destroy the structures of houses by eating out support beams, which can mandate costly repairs.
Their activity is tough to identify until the effects are severe and overwhelming, as the termites remain hidden.
They often eat across the fiber, and the wood they have already destroyed usually looks clean and smooth outside. Most insurance designs do not underwrite this damage; dampwood infestation can represent a finance-biting economic threat.
Observing and fixing any water issues, such as leaks, in and around the home and other structures is a significant component of damp wood termite control. Woods damaged by water that rests on the ground can attract rottenwood termites.
Signs of infestation can be examined and identified, such as littered termite wings, heaps of fecal pellets the same color as the wood being eaten, ejected wooden pellets, and an appearance of wood as if finely sandpapered.
To rectify this problem, it is vital to reduce moisture in plagued areas, which can be done by repairing any plumbing leaks, checking functioning drains, minimizing water, soil, and wood, and increasing ventilation.
Have you ever had a Dampwood infestation or an infestation scare? Please comment about your experience; I would love to hear from you.
