[1] Fertile individuals of N. corniger have black wings, dark bodies, and ocelli which are located relatively far from the eyes.

Eusocial insects are animals that develop large, multigenerational cooperative societies that assist each other in the rearing of young, often at the cost of an individual's life or reproductive ability.

Such altruism is explained in that eusocial insects benefit from giving up reproductive ability of many individuals to improve the overall fitness of closely related offspring.

[3] Termites, as fortress defenders, benefit from working together to best exploit a valuable ecological resource, in the case of Nasutitermes corniger a vast wood gallery.

In N. corniger, the soldier caste has had their heads modified to spew a noxious, sticky liquid when under attack from Tamandua anteaters.

[5] The secretion contains pinene, limonene and other high molecular weight compounds that deter the anteater from returning.

The fortress defense strategy necessitated the evolution of soldiers first, which has resulted in the unique specialization of the nasute termites.

Slightly older colonies tend to consist of multiple queens (up to 33) but only one king, in these cases the species can be considered polygynous.

[8] N. corniger have been found in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago, Bolivia, Puerto Rico[1] and more recently in Florida.

Studies with radioactive tracers have shown that when cohabiting nutrients flow both ways between the ants and the termites.

On occasions when the ants and termites do come into contact with each other (e.g. if the nest is broken into) they are rarely aggressive and tend to avoid each other instead.

[10] The termites are thought to benefit from the association as the ants leave debris in the nest containing nitrogen and that this increases the availability of this important nutrient in an environment where it is scarce.

The ants benefit as the termite nests provide an ideal location to raise broods, particularly of reproductive castes.

The termite nest is an ideal temperature for raising young and provides protection from predators of the bats.

N. corniger repair the damage made to the nest by the bat meaning that the males have to constantly maintain the roost.

[17] In addition to a role in fiber digestion, Symbiotic bacteria in N. corniger have also been shown to fix nitrogen at a rate of 0.25-1.0 mg N per colony per hour.