Unlike other termite species, they have no need to make contact with soil[1] and live exclusively within excavations in wood, lacking elaborate nesting architecture.

They can tolerate dry conditions for long periods of time, receiving all of the moisture they need from the wood they live in and consume.

Their mandibles are also fortified with zinc, as an adaptation to the mechanically difficult food source of dry wood.

[4] The species Cryptotermes brevis is particularly prevalent as a pest in the United States, and is found in Hawaii, Florida, and along the southeastern coast.

Pseudergates can be differentiated from other categories of immatures by the absence of wing buds (which are already present in most hemimetabolous insects in their first instar) and are not necessarily the only constituent of the general work force in a kalotermitid colony.

[10][12][13] The Kalotermitidae have no recognized classification above genera,[4] the relationships between which are still largely unknown and poorly studied.