It is able to live completely inside timber structures or articles made of wood such as furniture without any outside source of water.

As eusocial insects, West Indian drywood termites build a colonial nest and live inside timbers, creating chambers for rearing larvae and short galleries.

They resemble other drywood species in being larger and deeper-bodied than underground-dwelling termites, having shorter limbs and walking more slowly.

They have strong jaws for chewing wood fibre, claws for gripping wooden surfaces and antennae resembling the beads of a necklace strung together.

[2] The colony consists of several different castes; reproductives including a queen, king and alates (unmated winged termites); soldiers; and pseudergates (false workers).

The sausage-shaped pseudergates are immature termites that perform the functions of a worker caste and care for the brood, excavate tunnels, consume wood and feed the other members of the colony.

[1] It is also invasive in Australia, where it was first observed in 1966,[3] as well as New Caledonia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Fiji, and has been reported from Egypt, Italy and Spain.

[1][2] Cryptotermes brevis infests sound softwood and hardwood timbers, both structural wood in buildings and moveable objects.

The pellets are hexagonal in cross section and vary in colour, having one rounded and one tapered end, a shape characteristic of Cryptotermes brevis.