You must know the differences between some Bugs and termites to identify them quickly. Discover what the bugs that you can confuse with termites are. Know what the similarities between flying and carpenter ants are concerning eat wood termites.
Find out how different dust pole beetles and acrobat ants are compared to termites. Learn about one last difference between carpenter bees and the insect that can eat your wood in no time.
Bugs That Look Like Termites
Contents
Flying ants
Flying ants differ from termites primarily because they can move through the air. Termites are crawlers and follow a colony where they have a predetermined life as a soldier or builder. This type of ant only moves from one place to another in springtimes to reproduce, and thus, the species prevail.
Something characteristic of flying ants is that they can reproduce with any insect in this category. When reproducing with a carpenter ant, the insect will lose its wings and start a new life as another type of ant. You can identify them by their black color, 5mm, wings ranging from 3 to 5mm depending on the size, and small antennae.
Carpenter ants
When you compare a carpenter ant with a termite, you can see that they go in different directions in their way of life. The termite searches and persists in the wood while the carpenter ant only searches a common cave and feeds on plants. The ant also has wings, while termites only move across the ground to reach their colony.
A simple way that you can identify carpenter ants is by their black color and their size of approximately 3mm. They are Bugs with bent antennae that are easily differentiated from termites with linear antennae.
Dust post beetles
This is one of the Bugs that you can find the most similarity to termites due to their feed. Dust post beetles can be a bigger threat when it comes to eating wood. They can wipe out a chair in your home in 1 month if you suffer from an infestation with this insect.
One notable difference between Bugs is that the beetle leaves a residue, its feces, with a fine powder. Termites usually leave more palpable excrement that looks like small grains of rice in a brown color.
Acrobat ants
Acrobat ants can live in damp wood, but this does not mean that they constantly feed on it. This insect has something peculiar in its body where it can climb the upper area to a considerable height. You can differentiate it from termites by its dark color and its size that reaches 5 mm.
Unlike termites, acrobat ants do not taste wood, although it is a fact that their habitat is there. As they are attracted to wet wood, it is unlikely that you will suffer from such an infestation with termites if it can occur.
Carpenter bees
You can find carpenter bees in the damp wood around your home. They are Bugs that make their cave in this natural element of a perfect wood. Although the female carpenter bee can sting you if you go near her cave, they may be harmless.
Carpenter bees are black, 4 to 6 mm in size, and usually very peaceful. Like ants, this insect can eat leaves, mushrooms, or food chips that you throw near the cave.
