This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American There’s an anime-style visual ...

Physogastric termite queen (top left) of Macrotermes michaelseni being groomed by workers and the larger king, with soldiers in the foreground. Photo by Jan Sobotnik. Termites are among the most ...

A queen Oecophylla smaragdina ant Didier Descouens via Wikimedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 Small animals don’t usually grow very old. Since they’re always at risk of becoming another critter’s quick snack, ...

Termites reveal a startling consequence of long-term monogamy – the resulting lack of competition between the reproductive sperm of rival males led to the loss of tails in their sperm. This involved ...

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Learn more about termite evolution and how shedding key genes from their cockroach ancestors helped them build more complex colonies. When termites aren’t busy eating your nice wood flooring, they are ...