Magnetic termite
The magnetic termite is a tiny termite from northern Australia that builds giant flat mounds. Every mound points north and south, like the needle of a compass. That is how it got its name.
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Fun facts
Its mounds can be up to 4 metres tall, much taller than a grown-up.
The flat sides face east and west, so the mound warms up in the morning and evening but does not get too hot at noon.
One big mound can be home to up to a million termites.
When the grassland floods in the rainy season, the termites stay safe inside and eat their stored hay.
Many of them never leave the mound, so they are pale, nearly blind and have thin skin.
Most asked questions about Magnetic termite
?Why is it called the magnetic termite?
Because its flat mounds all point north and south, like a compass needle.
?How tall are magnetic termite mounds?
They can be up to 4 metres tall and 2.5 metres wide.
?What does the magnetic termite eat?
Grass and other plants, which it stores like hay inside the mound.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Amitermes meridionalis
- Group
- Cockroaches and termites
- Family
- Termitidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Blattodea > Termitidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Compass termite
Where the facts come from
- Amitermes meridionalis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by brewbooks from near Seattle, USA. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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