Termite queen: The longest living insect of the world
You open your room almirah and see a large termite infestation that has almost completely consumed the expensive wood on one side of its wall. You immediately inform your mom. However, she can’t do much. You go out for a stroll in the park and you are fascinated by a large old tree driving you close to it. Eww, what do you see in its trunk? A big termite colony. You check with the caretaker and alas, yet again, he can’t help it! Facts about termites that all these examples lead you to are that these are really tough insects. They love to feast on wood, live in some really big colonies and most importantly they can survive really long and you just can’t do much about then. Infact, the termite queen is the world’s longest living insect.
Queen termites can live really long
The queen of a termite colony on average lives 25 to 50 years, with some even surviving a century! Wow, that’s something to boast for our tiny queen bee. After all, who doesn’t want to live long, right? But what’s the secret behind her long life? For that we have to understand, how a termite colony operates.
Egg factories
Termites have a similar colony structure to ants with a single queen, reproductive males, and worker termites. The queen termite moves into adulthood quickly and lives most of its life as an adult. Once she grows to her full size, she can no longer move, so the entire termite nest is built around her. Her main job is to lay as many eggs as possible as she is usually fed by the worker termites with the king along as well. She also secretes the pheromones that control her role and position in the colony. Since a queen termite remains an adult for almost her life, she continuously produces eggs, for pretty much all the years of her life until she dies. Suppose she lives for 25 years. She can lay 1000 to 2000 eggs a day, so imagine how many termites she would reproduce before she dies. When she dies, a secondary queen takes over or a new one forms.
How does the queen live so long?
It is usually believed that small animals don’t grow very old because they’re always at risk of becoming another critter’s quick snack. The best way to ensure that their genes will make it into the next generation is to have a bunch of young as soon as possible. And that’s what the queen bee does here. As we told you, termite queens are extremely efficient egg factories. But does it bring any adverse physical consequence or does it reduce her lifespan? No. Scientists are still researching how queen termites live so long when the workers don’t, despite the same genes. However, the possible explanation could be an efficient antioxidant system that ensures a longer lifespan to termite queens.