7 Major Difference between Flying Ants and Termites with Table

Feb 2, 2022 · 3 min read ·

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What is the difference between flying ants and termites?

Both flying ants and termites are known as swarmer. They are social creatures and they live in colonies. They can cause considerable damage to your home. It is quite difficult to differentiate between termites and flying ants.

The core difference between flying ants and termites is that flying ants have a narrow waist with an easily recognizable abdomen while termites have a uniformly broad flat body without a narrow waist.

Difference between Flying Ants and Termites

What Are Flying Ants?

Flying ants have a narrow waist and this makes it quite easy to recognize the abdomen. These insects tend to live in colonies ruled by Queens and guarded by soldier ants.

Characteristics of Flying Ants

Have either brown or black bodies

Have a narrow waist between the thorax and abdomen

Live in colonies that consist of workers, soldiers, queens, and winged males

Queens are larger and lay eggs to developing new colonies

Have two pair of wings

They are omnivorous

What Are Flying Termites?

Flying termites have uniformly large and flat bodies. The bodies of the insects are soft and delicate. There are about 3000 identified species of flying termites in the world.

Characteristics of Flying Termites

Have soft and delicate bodies

Can either be pale brown, cream or yellow

Live in colonies that consist of reproductive, workers, and soldiers

Reproductive male and female termites are larger

Workers male are sterile and female smaller in body size

Flying termites are vegetarian

Comparison Chart: Flying Ants Vs Flying Termites

Basic Terms	Flying Ants	Flying Termites
Body size	Measure about 20mm long	Measure about 10 mm long
Wings	Have transparent wings	Have opaque wings
Color of veins of wings	Dark	Same color as the body
Number of wings	Two short and two long wings	Have four wings of the same size
Body shape	Have segmented bodies with the prominent abdomen	Have unregimented bodies without separating the abdomen
Antennae	Have elbowed antennae	Have straight antennae
Food	Omnivores	Herbivores

Core Differences between Flying Ants and Termites

Flying ants tend to be longer than the flying termites

Flying termites have opaque wings while flying ants have transparent wings

The veins color of flying ants is dark while that of flying termite is similar to that of the body

Flying termites have four wings of the same length while flying ants have two short and two long wings

Flying ants have segmented bodies with prominent abdomen while flying termites have unregimented bodies where the abdomen is not separated

Flying ants have elbowed antennae while flying termites have straight antennae

Flying termites are herbivores while flying ants are omnivores

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Comparison Video

Summary

The core difference between flying termites and flying ants is that flying termites are herbivores while flying ants are omnivores. Both the flying termites and ants live in colonies lead by a queen.

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