Insect's approach to size matters
Insects have, however, transcended even these limits in size, by creating highly social community living, an example of which is the termite hill. The termites that inhabit these colonies in effect all belong to the same family and were derived from the same parents. The body plan of these animals is so modified that they are incapable of an independent life, the workers are blind and sterile, the soldiers are armed with jaws so large that they cannot forage and have to be fed by workers. At the centre of the colony is the queen who is encaserated within earthwalls and has an abdomen that is distended to 120 mm and produces eggs at a rate of 30 000 per day. She is fed by workers and her eggs collected for incubation elsewhere in the termitaria. The only other sexually active male is the wasp-sized king who stays by the queen and is also fed by the workers.
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Giant Termitarium
