What is the difference between a swarming termite and a flying ant?
Termites and ants are both social insects. This means that they live in a colony and the members of the colonies are broken down into different groups depending on the jobs they perform for the colony. These divisions are called castes. Swarming termites and flying ants are the part of the colony called the winged reproductives. Their sole function in the colony is to fly out, in a swarm, pair up and mate to form a new colony elsewhere. Many people have found that a swarm of insects have emerged in their home and want to know how to tell the difference between termites and ants. The first (and easiest) thing to do is look for a distinct waistline on the insect. Insects have three body segments, head, thorax and abdomen. Ants generally have a very distinct transition between the thorax and the abdomen giving them and hour glass shaped waistline. The body of the termite does not have this pinched-in waistline. Their body is more cylindrical or cigar-shaped. In addition, both have two pai
