In some tropical species, the queen grows to an enormous size, sometimes as much as 20,000 times the size of the worker. A queen can lays eggs at a rate of about 30,000 a day in some species. Apart from the reproductives, all castes are sterile and wingless and have whitish bodies. The workers are the most numerous caste and are the smallest adult form. Workers build the nest, tend the eggs, and feed and groom all the other members of the community.
All species have soldiers whose role is to defend the colony.
Diet Termites feed mainly on wood or other materials containing cellulose. The cellulose is partially digested by protozoans living symbiotically in the intestines of the worker. Enzymes produced by the protozoans break the cellulose down into parts that can be digested by the termites. Some species feed on vegetable molds that they cultivate. They have hard walls constructed from bits of soil cemented with saliva and baked by the sun .