Formosan Termite Danger
Formosan termites are 10 times as destructive
The University of Florida website explains “10 times as destructive”
Individual Formosan termites eat no more wood than native American species.
The reason for “10 times more destructive” is colony size. Our native termites live in colonies of several hundred thousand.
Formosan termites live in colonies of several million. There are 10 times as many.
Louisiana State University entomologists reported a colony of 70 million in Algiers LA
An illustration of “10 times as many”:
Below is a link to a satellite view of a cloud over New Orleans.
Only it’s not a cloud. It is a swarm of Formosan termites, so many that they are seen from space.
Formosan queens live for 15 years:
The Formosan queen spends her life-giving birth 24/7.
30,000babies/day | 10,950,000babies/year |
164,000,000babies over her lifetime |
Formosan are on the mainland and coming north from the Gulf:
1945 Formosan termites were only in Hawaii.
1947 – Formosansland in Galveston and New Orleans
After World War II, the military shipped back war material from the Pacific theater to Galveston and New Orleans. The material was shipped on wooden pallets. The wood contained Formosan termite colonies.
1975 Formosan termites in 3 states
1975 – Formosans in 10 counties
Note 1: Counties are shown on these maps because state pest control regulators keep records by county.
Note 2: Formosan infested counties are shown in red. Orange colored counties adjoin infested counties, as they are at higher risk for infestation during swarming season.
1990 Formosans in 9 states
1990 – Formosans in 30 counties
They tripled in 15 years
2002 Formosans in 11 states
2002 – Formosans in 87 Counties
They almost tripled in the next 12 years
2022 Formosans in 12 states
2022 – Formosans in 184 counties
They more than doubled the number of infested counties since 2002.
Source: The USDA stopped publishing Formosan infestation maps after 2001. This map is a compilation prepared from state regulators, trade journals, academic publications, and discussions with pest control researchers.
Climate change helps Formosans to move north
Formosans thrive in warm and wet climates.
Climate change is bringing warmer and wetter conditions to the mainland US, which creates increasingly favourable climate for new infestations, allowing Formosans to move north from the Gulf Coast.
