[1] When it enters buildings, which it can do through a minute crack in concrete, it prefers to feed on wood that grew in spring rather than summer growth, which has a higher lignin content; the attacked timbers have a honeycomb-like appearance with soil in the galleries.

[1] A colony of Heterotermes aureus consists of four castes: a queen living deep underground, winged alates, workers and soldiers.

The termites only venture into the open air when the young winged reproductives emerge to embark on their nuptial flights on warm humid nights in summer.

It prefers to forage in shaded or damp areas, and creates yellowish-brown mud shelter tubes with a circular cross-section, to go over or round objects.

[1] Although the termite is a generalist detritivore, in a research study in the Sonoran Desert, the blue palo verde (Parkinsonia florida ) was the most common dead wood species, and was consumed in the greatest quantities.