Odontotermes badius

Odontotermes • Termitidae • Isoptera • other insect groups • insects (plant pests) • pests-diseases-weeds

Odontotermes badius workers tending a ventilation tunnel (click on image to enlarge it)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Odontotermes badius (Haviland, 1898)

This is a subterranean, mound-building termite, found in tropical and southern Africa. It can be a pest of groundnuts, sugarcane and other crops. These are used for the fungus gardens of the termites. The mounds have vertical, crater-like ventilation tunnels (crater termite).

Publications covering Odontotermes badius

Environmental Microbiology (2015) 17, 2562-2572
Michael Poulsen (2015)
Towards an integrated understanding of the consequences of fungus domestication on the fungus-growing termite gut microbiota

Insect Science and its Application (2001) 21, 23-32
V.C. Umeh, O. Youm and F. Waliyar (2001)
Soil pests of groundnut in Sub-Saharan Africa - A review