Isoptera

About 2, 900 termites have been described worldwide.  They undergo simple metamorphosis.  They are eusocial insects and nymphs grow into one of the castes, where they will specialize in a job for the colony.  A colony would consist of: a king, a queen, workers, and soldiers.  The colony lives in nests, which are mostly built with saliva, mud, and soil.  Nests are typically underground, but some can grow above the surface, with some of the tallest going thirty feet high.  Termites have soft bodies that need to be kept moist and the nests provide the necessary protection and thermoregulation for the colony to survive.  They frequently groom each other with their mouths.  Termites feed on wood, leaf litter, or soil.  They have bacteria in their gut, which aids with the digestion of cellulose.  As detritivores, they play a huge role in nutrient cycling.  They can be found in the fossil record as far back as the Late Triassic.

Arches provide structural support: termites
 

The nests of termites gain structural support for chambers, ventilation shafts, and insulating cavities because arches are the main architectural element.

 
  "The basic building step in many termites involves gluing fecal pellets to make arches; the arches, supporting a network of other arches, provide most of the structural strength needed to support specialized chambers, ventilation shafts, and insulating cavities, and they supply convenient walkways as well. Recycling feces is a superb way to turn a problem into a solution…The construction of the arches goes well beyond flexibility and variation…Columns are neither too close nor too far apart to permit the subsequent construction of arches." (Gould and Gould 2007:142-144)
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Gut microbes digest cellulose: termites
 

Guts of termites digest cellulose via microbial symbionts.

 
  "Termites do not digest cellulose directly…instead they collect vegetation, chew it up, and leave the chemical breakdown to other organisms. There are two strategies. The most primitive termites swallow the vegetation and pass it to a fermentation chamber where anaerobic bacteria and protozoa break down the cellulose…More advanced species have a different feeding strategy. The energy source is still cellulose, but it is digested outside the termite's body…Fungi is the only kingdom of organisms able to digest cellulose in air, though they need warmth and humidity to do the job efficiently." (Gould and Gould 2007:132-133)
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Mounds shed water: West African termites
 

Mounds of West African termites are built to shed water via mushroom-like shape.

 
  "In West Africa and other areas where there is heavy rain, the colonies build nests like mushrooms with flat roofs which shed the water." (Attenborough 1979:100)
  Learn more about this functional adaptation.