Termites look like small, soft, pale ants with no waist. Most are 3 to 7 mm long, about the size of a grain of rice. Workers are creamy white to pale brown, with straight antennae like a string of beads and no eyes or wings. Soldiers have the same pale body but a bigger, darker head with strong jaws. Flying termites are darker, from brown to almost black, with four wings of equal length that break off soon after they land.
If you have found insects like these in timber, mud or a wall gap anywhere around Rockhampton or Central Queensland, leave them where they are. Take a photo with a coin beside them for scale and book a termite inspection.
In summary
- Termites are small, soft insects with a thick body and no waist. Most are 3 to 7 mm long, with short, straight antennae made of tiny beads.
- Most termites you will see are workers: creamy white and soft. Soldiers have a larger, darker head with jaws or a pointed snout. Flying termites are brown to black, with four wings of the same length.
- Ants have a pinched waist and bent antennae. Borers are hard-shelled beetles that leave small round holes and fine dust, not mud.
- Where they came from matters as much as how they look. Insects coming out of timber, a mud tube or a wall gap point strongly to termites.
- Do not spray them or break anything open. Photograph them, keep a few in a sealed jar and book an inspection.
What does a termite look like up close?
Up close, a termite is a soft, pale insect whose body runs straight from head to tail. Like every insect it has a head, a thorax and an abdomen, but the thorax and abdomen join along their full width, so there is no narrow waist. It walks on six short legs and has two straight antennae made of small, round segments, like a string of beads.
Workers and soldiers have no eyes and never grow wings. Their skin is so thin that workers can look almost see-through, with the darker food in their gut showing through. Thin skin dries out quickly in open air, so termites stay inside timber, soil and sealed mud tunnels. Only the flyers are built for the outside, with eyes, wings and a darker, tougher body.
| Feature | What to look for on a termite |
|---|---|
| Size | 3 to 7 mm for most termites that damage Queensland homes |
| Colour | Creamy white to pale brown; soldiers have a darker head; flyers are brown to almost black |
| Body | Soft and thick from end to end, with no narrow waist |
| Antennae | Short, straight and beaded, never bent at an elbow |
| Eyes | None on workers and soldiers; flyers have a pair of eyes |
| Wings | Flyers only: four wings of equal length, longer than the body |
| Where you find them | Inside timber, soil, mud tubes and wall gaps; flyers gather around lights |
What do the different types of termites look like?
A termite colony has workers, soldiers, flyers and a king and queen, and each one looks different. Workers are the ones you are most likely to see. Soldiers matter most for identification, because the shape of a soldier's head is what separates one kind of termite from another.
Workers
Workers are creamy white to pale brown, soft-bodied and 3 to 7 mm long, with a rounded head and no eyes or wings. They are the most common termites in any colony. They chew the timber, build the mud tubes, tend the eggs and young, and feed the rest of the colony. If you snap a rotten fence paling or break into a skirting board and see small, pale insects pouring out, they are almost always workers.
Soldiers
Soldiers have the same pale body as workers, but their head is larger, harder and darker, usually yellow, orange or brown. Most kinds carry a pair of large jaws. Some, called nasute soldiers, have a head that narrows into a pointed snout instead, which they use to squirt a sticky fluid at ants. Their heads are so specialised that they cannot feed themselves, so workers feed them.
Soldiers are the first to rush to any break in a mud tube or timber, so if you have opened something up you will usually see them among the workers. They are also the caste a technician looks for. The Queensland Government notes that naming the species takes a hand lens or microscope of at least ten times magnification, and that soldiers are the easiest caste to identify a species from.
Queens and kings
A termite queen starts life as a flyer and looks like one after she sheds her wings, with a dark head and thorax. Over the years her abdomen swells with eggs until it is a long, pale, sausage-like sac many times the size of her head, banded with darker strips. The king stays much the same size and shape as a flyer. The Queensland Government says some subterranean termite queens can lay 2,000 eggs a day, and a mature colony can hold up to two million termites.
You will almost never see a queen. She sits in a sealed chamber deep in the nest, which can be underground, in a tree or under a slab.
Eggs and young termites (nymphs)
Termite eggs are tiny, white and oval, kept in clusters in the nest and tended by workers. They hatch into nymphs that look like smaller, paler workers and grow by shedding their skin several times. Nymphs that will become flyers grow small wing pads on their backs before their full wings appear. Like the queen, eggs and young nymphs stay deep inside the nest, so seeing them is rare.
What do termites look like with wings?
Flying termites, called alates, are brown to almost black, with four wings of equal length that are longer than the body and lie flat along its back. They have the same thick waist and straight antennae as the workers, and they have eyes. The wings are thin and see-through, and they break off easily, so you often find wingless flyers, or the wings alone, near windows, doors and lights.
Flyers are the colony's future kings and queens. In Queensland they usually leave the nest from spring to early summer, or from late summer to early autumn. They fly at dusk on warm, humid evenings, often after storms, and are drawn to lights. They are weak fliers. Once they land, they drop their wings and pairs often walk off together, one following close behind the other, looking for damp soil or timber.
A swarm around an outdoor light means there is a colony somewhere nearby. Flyers inside the house, or piles of identical wings on sills and in door tracks, mean the colony may be in the house or very close to it. Our guide to flying ants or termites after rain covers how to tell the two apart.
How big are termites?
Most termites that damage Queensland homes are 3 to 7 mm long, the size range the Queensland Government gives for subterranean termites. That is about the size of a grain of rice, or a quarter of the width of a 5 cent coin. Many ants are the same size, so size alone will not tell you whether you have termites.
| Termite | Typical length | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Workers and soldiers of most subterranean termites | 3 to 7 mm | Queensland Government |
| Coptotermes soldiers | 3.5 to 6.5 mm | Victorian Department of Health |
| Schedorhinotermes soldiers | Larger soldiers up to 5.6 mm; smaller soldiers about 3.6 mm | Victorian Department of Health |
| West Indian drywood termite soldiers | 4 to 6 mm | Queensland Government |
| West Indian drywood termite flyers | About 11 mm including the wings | Queensland Government |
| Giant northern termite soldiers | Up to 13 mm | Queensland Government |
| Queens | Much larger than workers once the abdomen fills with eggs | Queensland Government; Australian Museum |
What colour are termites?
Most termites are creamy white to pale brown. The Australian Museum describes them as pale brown to white with a darker head. Soldiers' heads range from yellow to orange or brown, and flyers are the darkest termites, from brown to almost black.
Colour changes with the caste, and a worker can look darker when its gut is full of timber, so colour alone is a weak test. When people say they have found "black termites", they have usually found flyers, or ants. Check the waist and antennae before you decide.
Which termites are found around Rockhampton?
The termites that damage Queensland homes are either subterranean termites, which live in the soil and travel through mud tunnels, or drywood termites, which live inside dry timber. Coptotermes and Schedorhinotermes, both subterranean, occur throughout Queensland. The Queensland Government also lists the West Indian drywood termite as present in Rockhampton.
Australia has more than 250 named termite species, and most never touch a house. Of about fifteen subterranean species that commonly damage timber in Australia, ten occur in Queensland, according to the Queensland Government. You do not need to name the species yourself, but the soldiers carry the clues.
| Termite | What the soldier looks like | Other clues | Where in Queensland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coptotermes, including C. acinaciformis | Pear-shaped head with brown, curved, sabre-like jaws; oozes a drop of white, sticky fluid from the head when disturbed | Large colonies; nests in trees, stumps, under slabs and in wall cavities; travels through mud tubes | Throughout Queensland; one of the State's two most serious pest species |
| Schedorhinotermes | Two sizes of soldier in the same colony, a larger one and a smaller one, both with jaws | The two soldier sizes are the giveaway; workers look much like other subterranean termites | Throughout Queensland |
| Nasutitermes | No big jaws; the head narrows into a pointed snout that squirts a sticky fluid | Some build dark, rounded nests on tree trunks or branches, linked to the ground by mud galleries down the trunk | Across Australia; the Queensland Government lists N. exitiosus among the species that commonly damage timber |
| Giant northern termite (Mastotermes darwiniensis) | Large and heavy-bodied, with soldiers up to 13 mm | Attacks living trees, shrubs and even vegetables as well as timber | Tropical northern Queensland and northern Australia |
| West Indian drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis) | White body with a dark, plug-shaped, deeply wrinkled head | No mud; hard pellets under timber or furniture; colonies can live in a piece of timber as small as a picture frame | Established in Maryborough and many Brisbane suburbs; also present in Bundaberg, Townsville and Rockhampton |
Termite mounds on acreage are another local case. Many termite species in Queensland feed on grass and never touch a house. Coptotermes acinaciformis, one of the main timber pests, builds mounds north of the Tropic of Capricorn, which runs through Rockhampton. A mound near the house, a shed or fence posts calls for identification rather than a guess.
What does a drywood termite look like?
Drywood termites look much like other termites, but you will rarely see the insects, because they live sealed inside dry timber and need no soil contact. The West Indian drywood termite's flyers are medium brown and about 11 mm long including the wings. They fly between dusk and dawn and are drawn to lights. The soldiers are 4 to 6 mm long with a dark, wrinkled head shaped like a plug, which they use to block the tunnels.
The clue most people find is the pellets. They are small, hard and seed-like, with one rounded end and one pointed end and six flat sides if you look closely. From hoop pine they are reddish brown and turn black with age. They collect in small piles on floors and sills below infested furniture, frames or floorboards, often under a pinhole about 1 mm wide that may be sealed over. Subterranean termites leave mud, not pellets, so tell us about pellets when you call.
Are these termites? How to check in five steps
Check the waist, the antennae, the wings, the body and where the insects came from. The first four checks tell you whether it is a termite. The fifth tells you how worried to be.
- Look at the waist. Termites are thick from head to tail. Ants pinch in tightly at the middle, like a wasp.
- Look at the antennae. Termite antennae are straight and beaded. Ant antennae bend at an elbow. Beetle antennae often end in a small club.
- Look at the wings, if there are any. Flying termites have four wings of the same length, longer than the body, and they snap off easily. Flying ants have front wings bigger than the back wings. Beetles have a hard shell over their wings.
- Look at the body. Termite workers are soft, pale and almost see-through. Ants and beetles are hard and shiny.
- Look at where they came from. Insects coming out of timber, a mud tube, a crack in the slab or a gap in a wall point to termites. A trail across the bench or the services to food points to ants. Small round holes and fine dust point to borers.
If the first four checks say termite and the insects came out of the house, book an inspection. If you cannot tell, keep a sample and a photo and ask.
What is commonly mistaken for termites?
Ants and flying ants are the insects most often mistaken for termites. Borers, the wood-boring beetles and their pale grubs, come next. Swarms of "rain flies" after a storm cause plenty of questions too.
| Check | Termites | Ants | Borers (wood-boring beetles) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body | Soft, thick from end to end, no waist | Hard and shiny, with a pinched waist | Hard, shiny shell; adults are oval or tube-shaped |
| Antennae | Straight and beaded | Bent at an elbow | Often end in a small club |
| Wings | Flyers have four wings of equal length that snap off | Front wings bigger than back wings | Hard wing covers over a folded pair of flying wings |
| Colour | Workers creamy white; soldiers with a darker head; flyers brown to almost black | Black, brown, red or green | Adults reddish brown to black; grubs creamy white and curled |
| Where you see them | Inside timber, soil, mud tubes and wall gaps; flyers at lights | Out in the open, often in trails to food | Rarely seen; the grubs live inside the timber |
| What they leave | Mud tubes, mud packed into cracks, hollow timber; drywood termites leave hard pellets | Trails, and nests in soil, gaps or the garden | Small round exit holes and fine dust |
| Do they eat timber? | Yes | No | The grubs do |
Ants and flying ants
Ants are the most common mix-up, because both live in big colonies and both send out winged swarms on warm, humid evenings. A pinched waist and elbowed antennae mean ant, whatever the colour. Black ants, sugar ants and green tree ants do not eat timber. If green ants are nesting in folded leaves, they are green tree ants, covered in our green tree ants guide. Ants trailing through the kitchen need ant control, not termite treatment.
Borers and their grubs
Borers are beetles, and the adults look nothing like termites up close: they have a hard, shiny shell and are often reddish brown to black. The Queensland pine beetle, for example, is oval, about 3 mm long and shiny reddish brown. The adults live only a few weeks, so you are more likely to find their exit holes: neat, round holes about 2 mm wide, often with a little fine dust below.
The grubs cause the confusion. They are creamy white, but they are curled into a C shape, wrinkled and slow, with dark jaws, while a termite worker has a straight body and walks quickly on six obvious legs. Borer tunnels are packed with fine dust that feels gritty, or soft like flour in the case of powderpost beetles. Termite tunnels in timber are packed with mud. Our termite damage guide compares the damage itself in more detail.
Rain flies and other swarms
"Rain flies" is a common name for whatever flies out after rain, not one insect. A swarm can be flying termites, flying ants or something else entirely. Check the waist, antennae and wings as above, or read are rain flies termites?
What does termite activity look like in a house?
You will usually see the evidence before the termites, because they work out of sight. The visible signs are mud tubes, mud packed into gaps, hollow or bubbling timber, piles of shed wings and, with drywood termites, pellets.
- Mud tubes (mud leads): brown, crusty tunnels of soil and chewed timber, often about as wide as a pencil, running up stumps, piers, slab edges, brickwork or the back of skirting boards.
- Mud packing: soil pressed into cracks, joints, gaps around pipes or the edges of architraves.
- Damaged timber: timber that sounds hollow when tapped, gives under a thumb or has bubbling paint. Inside, termites eat along the grain and leave thin layers with mud packed between them.
- Shed wings: small piles of identical wings on sills, in door tracks or under lights.
- Pellets: small, hard, seed-shaped pellets under timber or furniture, from drywood termites.
Leave every one of them as you found it. Breaking open a mud tube or scraping it off the wall disturbs the termites and wipes out the trail an inspection follows. For the full list of signs, see signs of termites in Queensland homes, and for what eaten timber looks like, read our termite damage guide.
How do you photograph termites so they can be identified?
Take a close-up with a coin or ruler beside the insect, one shot from above and one from the side, then a wider photo that shows exactly where you found it. A clear photo lets a technician tell a termite from an ant or a beetle. It cannot show how far termites have spread or how they got in, so it is a first step, not the answer.
- Leave them where they are. Do not crush, spray or wipe them up first.
- Add something for scale. Put a coin or ruler beside them without touching them. A 5 cent coin is just under 2 cm across, and a worker termite is about a quarter of its width.
- Shoot from above and from the side. Light them with a torch from the side instead of the flash, and tap the screen to focus on the insect.
- Take a wider photo. Show exactly where they were: the timber, wall gap, window, light fitting, soil or mud tube.
- Find a soldier if you can. Photograph any termite with a bigger, darker head. That head is what tells one termite from another.
- Note the details. Write down the date, time and weather, and whether they came from soil, timber, a wall gap, a window, a light fitting or outside.
- Keep a sample. Put a few insects or wings, or a few pellets, in a sealed jar or zip-lock bag. Leave the rest where they are.
Do not rely on colour alone. Different castes of termite look different, and winged ants are often confused with flying termites.
What should you do if you think they are termites?
Leave them alone and book an inspection. A spray kills the termites it touches, but the colony keeps feeding somewhere else, often underground. Disturbed termites also tend to leave that spot, which hides the trail back to where they are getting in.
Do not break open more timber or mud, remove damaged timber or start repairs before the activity has been assessed. If you have already sprayed, tell us what you used and when. Our guide on what to do if you find live termites in your house has the full checklist.
How we identify termites around Rockhampton and Central Queensland
At Insight Termite & Pest Solutions we confirm what you have found, then find where it is coming from. We are owner-operated and based in Gracemere, so when you call about suspected termites you speak with Brendan Bartley, the owner and technician. Tell us what you found, where it was and your suburb, and keep your photos and sample to show us.
- The inspection. We check the accessible areas of the property, including subfloors, roof voids, interiors, exteriors and around the foundations. Thermal imaging and moisture detection are used alongside the physical check. They can point to termite workings or moisture behind wall linings without breaking them open.
- The report. You get a clear written report, with photographs where needed and a plain next step.
- If they are termites. Treatment is planned from what the inspection finds, not a pre-selected method, and you get a clear quote before any treatment starts. See termite treatment in Rockhampton.
- The person doing the work. Brendan has 10 years of industry experience across pest and termite work, holds a Cert 3 in Urban Pest Management and is an Infraspection Institute Certified Thermographer.
- The record. Zero failed termite management systems. We are the only business in Central Queensland offering a $15,000 repair guarantee on our termite management systems (T&Cs apply). We are rated 5.0 stars on Google from 82 reviews (26 October 2026).
We cover Rockhampton, Gracemere and the Central Queensland towns listed in our service areas. We are available 24/7, and pricing is on application. You can read more about us.
Found something? Here is the next step
Leave it where it is, take a photo with a coin beside it, and call Brendan on 0490 304 848. Or tell us what you found, where, and your address through our enquiry form. We will book a termite inspection and tell you plainly whether you have termites and what happens next.
Sources
- Queensland Government, Business Queensland: Subterranean and drywood termites (updated 5 June 2026).
- Queensland Government, Business Queensland: West Indian drywood termite.
- Queensland Government: Subterranean termites in Queensland (2019).
- Queensland Government, Business Queensland: Queensland pine beetle.
- Australian Museum: Termites and Termites as pests.
- Victorian Department of Health: Pest control: termites.