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National Invasive Species Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Terrestrial Invasives
  3. Terrestrial Invertebrates
  4. Formosan Subterranean Termite

Formosan Subterranean Termite

Scientific Name

Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, 1909 (ITIS)

Common Name

Formosan subterranean termite (FST), ground termites

Native To

East Asia (Lax and Osbrink 2003)

Date of U.S. Introduction

1960s (Messenger et al. 2002)

Means of Introduction

Arrived accidentally on ships from the Pacific (Messenger et al. 2002)

Impact

Damages landscape trees and causes significant structural damage to buildings (Lax and Osbrink 2003)

Formosan Subterranean Termite

Formosan Subterranean Termite, Adults, worker (top), soldier (bottom)

Credit

Gerald J. Lenhard

Source
Invasive.org.

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