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.
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.