This first brood of newly hatched nymphs usually develops into workers. A worker matures within a year and lives from three to five years. Newly hatched workers are fed predigested food by the king and queen. Once they are able to digest food, their roles reverse. The king and queen stop eating and the workers feed them for as long as they live along with everybody else in the colony.
Workers are also responsible for making the colony function.
They find the food, feed all other colony members and groom the soldiers. They excavate wood for chambers and build the tunnels. Full grown workers are soft-bodied, wingless, blind and a creamy white color. Soldiers also have creamy, white bodies and look very much like workers. But soldiers have huge, elongated heads that are almost as long as their bodies with strong jaws.