What Do Termites Look Like? Every Caste, Size and Color

What do termites look like?

Termites are small, soft-bodied insects with straight antennae like a string of beads, a thick body with no pinched waist, and six short legs. Workers are cream or white and 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3 to 6 mm) long. Swarmers are dark brown to black, with four equal wings, and 1/4 to 5/8 inch (6 to 15 mm) long.

Termites are social insects in the order Blattodea, the same order as cockroaches. A colony has workers, soldiers and, once a year, winged swarmers, and each one looks different. So the termite you found tells you something. A pale worker came out of wood or soil close by, while a dark swarmer may have flown in from outside.

Most people never see a live worker, though. Workers avoid light and dry air, so they stay inside wood, soil and mud tubes. The termites people do find are swarmers on a sill, wings on the floor, or pale workers in a board that broke open.

How do you tell if it’s a termite?

Check the antennae first, then the waist, then the wings. Straight, beaded antennae and a thick waist mean a termite. Elbowed antennae and a pinched waist mean an ant. Color and size will not settle it, because many ants are also small and dark.

For a side-by-side look, our guide to how a wingless termite differs from an ant compares the workers, and winged ants and termite swarmers compared does the same for the ones with wings.

Workers, soldiers, swarmers, kings and queens

What do termites look like inside a colony? You might see five kinds of adult. Workers are pale and 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3 to 6 mm) long. Soldiers are pale with a big colored head. Swarmers are darker and have wings. Kings and queens are swarmers that lost their wings, and an old queen can swell to about 1/2 inch (13 mm).

Sizes are from UF/IFAS, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Arizona extension publications. They vary by species, so treat them as typical.

Workers

Workers are the termites that eat the wood. They are soft, wingless and blind, and they look like a grain of rice with legs. Most are cream or white. In California, though, UC IPM describes western subterranean workers as light caramel.

Worker size depends on whom you ask. The University of Arkansas gives about 1/8 inch for eastern subterranean workers, the University of Maryland about 1/4 inch, and Texas A&M 1/4 to 3/8 inch. The reason is simple: workers grow each time they molt, so one colony holds every size.

Drywood and dampwood termites have no true workers. Their young do the work instead, and they look much the same: pale and soft. Very small, pale ones are young termites, and our guide to baby termites and termite eggs shows what those look like.

Soldiers

Soldiers have the same soft, pale body as workers, with a large, hard head and long jaws. The head is the giveaway. It is usually yellow-brown, orange or reddish-brown, which is why people describe “red and white termites” or “termites with red heads”. Most colonies have only a few soldiers in every hundred termites, but Formosan colonies have about one in ten.

The head shape also points to the kind of termite. Formosan soldiers have an oval, teardrop-shaped orange head, and they can ooze a drop of white glue from a pore at the front of it. By contrast, eastern subterranean soldiers have a longer, rectangular head. The West Indian drywood soldier has a short, black, wrinkled head with a flat front. Conehead soldiers have a dark head drawn out into a pointed nozzle that squirts a sticky defense.

Swarmers

Swarmers, also called alates, are the winged adults that leave a mature colony to start new ones. They are the only termites with working eyes and darker, firmer bodies, and they are the ones most people find. Their four wings are the same size, usually pale and see-through, and about twice as long as the body. Each wing breaks off easily near the base.

For winged termites in detail, from shed wings in light fixtures to why they show up after rain, see our guide to termites with wings.

Kings and queens

A king and queen are swarmers that landed, dropped their wings and started a colony. The king hardly changes. He stays the size and color of a swarmer, with short wing stubs. The queen’s belly, on the other hand, keeps stretching as she lays more eggs. The University of Arkansas says the eastern subterranean queen reaches about 1/2 inch (13 mm), with pale bands between the plates of her belly that make her look striped.

You will almost never see either one, because they live deep in the nest. The huge, finger-sized queens in nature videos belong to tropical mound-building termites, not to any US species.

How big are termites?

Most termites a US homeowner sees are 1/8 to 5/8 inch (3 to 15 mm) long. Workers are the smallest, at 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3 to 6 mm). Swarmers of the common eastern subterranean termite are about 3/8 inch (10 mm) with wings. The largest, Pacific dampwood swarmers, reach about 1 inch (25 mm).

From UF/IFAS, UC IPM, Texas A&M, the University of Arizona, Mississippi State, Washington State and the University of Arkansas. Where they differ, the table gives the range.

Can you see termites with the naked eye?

Yes. Even the smallest grown worker, at about 1/8 inch (3 mm), is about half the length of a grain of long rice. A swarmer with its wings is about 3/8 inch (10 mm), a little longer than a pencil is wide. So what do termites look like to the human eye? A tiny pale grain that moves, or a small dark bug with long, clear wings.

What you cannot see without help are the details: the beads on the antennae, the soldier’s jaws, and the six flat sides of a drywood pellet. A phone camera zoomed in, or a 10x hand lens, shows all of them. And if you rarely see termites, that is normal. Workers hide from light, so you only meet them when you break open a mud tube or damaged wood.

Why termite sizes online disagree

Size figures online disagree for three reasons. First, some count the wings and some do not, and the wings add a third to a half to a swarmer’s length. Second, workers grow as they molt, so a colony holds many sizes. Third, some numbers get copied from page to page without a check.

Drywood termites are the clearest case. Terminix, Dodson and Massey all list drywood termites at 3/8 to 1 inch long. However, UF/IFAS measures western drywood swarmers at 11 to 12.5 mm with wings, which is under 1/2 inch, and Texas A&M puts them at 9/16 inch. The termites that reach 1 inch are Pacific dampwood swarmers, a different kind. So a 1-inch termite in Florida or Texas is very unlikely to be drywood.

What color are termites?

Termite workers are cream to white. Soldiers are pale with a yellow, orange, reddish-brown or black head. Swarmers are mostly dark brown to black, but a few kinds are lighter. Formosan swarmers are amber to yellowish brown, and the southeastern drywood termite’s swarmers are light yellow. No US termite worker is black.

Black termites

Black termites are almost always swarmers. Eastern subterranean swarmers are dark brown and look nearly black to the eye, and conehead swarmers are dark brown with dark wings. A black swarmer from a house is usually about 3/8 inch (10 mm) long with its wings, and about 1/4 inch (6 mm) once they drop.

Because no termite worker is black, a black, wingless insect that is shiny and hard is most likely an ant. The antennae and waist will confirm it.

White termites

White termites are workers and young termites. People also call them “white ants”, but they are not ants. A soft, white insect with straight, beaded antennae in damp wood or a broken mud tube is a termite worker.

On the other hand, tiny white bugs on damp paper, books or a windowsill are more often booklice, which are under 1/16 inch (1.5 mm). Pale springtails jump when touched. Ants that have just molted are pale for a day or two, but they still have a pinched waist. Our guide to small white bugs in the house sorts the rest.

Red and brown termites

There is no red termite species in the US. “Red termites” are soldiers: a pale body with an orange or reddish-brown head. Formosan soldiers have orange-brown heads, and western drywood soldiers have large reddish-brown heads. Some swarmers are reddish too, such as the western drywood swarmer, with its orange-brown head and dark body, and Florida’s dampwood swarmers.

A rule shared online says black termites are subterranean and red ones are drywood. It does not hold. Some drywood swarmers are dark, the southeastern drywood swarmer is light yellow, and soldiers of both kinds can have reddish heads. Instead, go by what the termites leave behind: mud tubes point to subterranean termites, while six-sided pellets point to drywood.

What each US termite looks like

What do termites look like where you live? That depends on the kind, and the US has five groups that matter to homes: subterranean, Formosan, drywood, dampwood and conehead. Native subterranean termites live in nearly every state. Formosan termites live in the Southeast, Hawaii and parts of California, and drywood termites in warm southern and western areas. Dampwood termites live mostly on the Pacific coast, and conehead termites only in southeast Florida.

Subterranean termites

Subterranean termites are the ones most Americans have. The eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, has black swarmers about 3/8 inch (10 mm) long with pale to smoky wings, cream workers, and soldiers with long, rectangular, yellowish-brown heads. The western subterranean termite in California and the West looks much the same, with brownish-gray wings.

In Arizona, there are two more. The desert subterranean termite has pale yellowish-brown swarmers about 1/2 inch (13 mm) long with wings. The arid-land subterranean termite has dark brown to black swarmers of the same size.

Formosan termites

Formosan subterranean termites, Coptotermes formosanus, are bigger and lighter in color. Their swarmers are amber to orange-brown, 1/2 to 5/8 inch (12 to 15 mm) long with wings, and covered in fine hairs. They fly after dark toward lights. Their soldiers are the easiest to recognize: a teardrop-shaped orange head on a white body, about 3/16 inch (4 to 5 mm) long.

According to UF/IFAS, a soldier defends itself by oozing a white, glue-like fluid from a pore on its head. A crowd of these soldiers at a break in a mud tube points to Formosan termites. In South Florida, a close relative, the Asian subterranean termite, has darker brown swarmers of about the same size and the same teardrop-headed soldiers.

Drywood termites

Drywood termites live inside dry wood with no contact with soil, so you rarely see them outside it. The western drywood termite has swarmers with a reddish-brown head and thorax, a dark brown body and smoky wings, and soldiers with large reddish-brown heads and heavy, toothed jaws.

In the Southeast, the southeastern drywood termite has light yellow swarmers with clear wings. The West Indian drywood termite, which UF/IFAS says is behind nearly all tent fumigation in Florida and Hawaii, has medium-brown swarmers with shiny wings and soldiers with short, black, wrinkled heads. All three are about 7/16 to 1/2 inch (11 to 12.5 mm) with wings. Their hard, six-sided pellets are often the first thing anyone sees, and our guide to drywood termite pellets shows them.

Dampwood termites

Dampwood termites are the giants. Pacific dampwood swarmers are 3/4 to 1 inch (19 to 25 mm) long with wings, orange-brown to dark brown, and their soldiers have big, flat brown heads with long dark jaws. The Nevada dampwood termite, a close relative, is a little smaller and darker, at about 3/4 inch.

Florida has its own dampwood termites, with reddish-brown to reddish-orange swarmers of 1/2 to 5/8 inch (12 to 16 mm). UF/IFAS calls them the largest termites in the eastern US. Dampwood termites need wet wood, so finding them indoors usually means a leak.

Conehead termites

The conehead termite, Nasutitermes corniger, is an invasive termite from the American tropics. It was first found established in the US in Dania Beach, Florida, in 2001, as UF/IFAS records. Its soldiers are about 3/16 inch (5 mm) long, with a dark head drawn out into a pointed cone. Its swarmers are dark brown with dark wings and fairly large, at 5/8 to 3/4 inch (15 to 18 mm).

Unlike most US termites, conehead workers and soldiers travel in the open at night and cover their trails with a mix of soil and droppings. They also build bulky nests in trees and on buildings, which makes them easier to spot than other termites.

Which kind you have changes how it is treated. Our main termite guide explains what each kind means for your house.

What do termites look like on wood and around the house?

On wood, live termites look like pale, soft grains of rice moving through tunnels, often with a few soldiers that have colored heads. Subterranean termites line their tunnels with mud. Around the house, though, you are more likely to find dead dark swarmers on sills, piles of see-through wings, or mud tubes than a live termite.

Termites that come out inside a house usually die within a day. That is why they turn up near windows, sinks, tubs and lights, where light drew them. If the damage or the little piles under the wood are what you found, our guides to what termite damage looks like and to every sign of termites in a house cover them.

What do dead termites look like?

A dead swarmer has often lost some or all of its wings, which lie nearby in a small pile. Its body shrinks a little as it dries, but the straight antennae and thick waist still show under a magnifier. Loose wings are a clue on their own: termite wings are all the same size, pale and see-through, and about twice the length of the body.

What bug can be mistaken for termites?

Ants are mistaken for termites more than any other insect, both with wings and without. After ants come booklice, tiny pale insects on damp paper; webspinners, slim insects that live in silk tunnels; and winged look-alikes such as brown lacewings and termite-eating rove beetles. The antennae and waist check rules out most of them in seconds.

Our round-up of bugs that look like termites gives the one feature that separates each of them, from carpenter ants to mayflies.

How to photograph a termite for an ID

A good termite photo shows the antennae, the waist and, on a swarmer, all four wings, next to a coin or ruler for size. Take it from straight above in daylight, then take a second one from the side. That is enough for an expert, or for you, to rule out an ant.

Photo apps and AI chatbots often call a winged ant a termite, and the reverse. Readers on Reddit report this all the time, and some even had a pest company or a fence contractor call their ants termites. So use any identifier, including our photo bug identifier, as a first guess, and then confirm it with the three checks. If you are still unsure, an inspector or your county extension office can look at the sample.

You found a termite: what it means

What you found and where matters more than the termite’s size or color. One swarmer near a window often flew in from outside. Many swarmers indoors, piles of wings, or pale workers in wood mean a colony is in or under the house. That needs a professional inspection. Do not spray; keep a sample instead.

From here, our guide to what a termite inspection checks explains the next step if you think a colony is in the house.

Pest control disclaimer. Photo-based identification can help, but it is not always perfect. For dangerous spiders, large infestations, or anything you are unsure about, contact a licensed pest control professional.