[6] A colony is usually founded by a winged male and female termite after a nuptial flight.

Having discarded their wings, the reproductives choose a suitable tree with an area of dead wood and create a chamber under the bark, often entering through a beetle hole.

The next eggs develop into workers, which expand the colony by chewing into the wood that surrounds them.

[7] As they continue to grow and moult, some of the workers may develop into full-sized soldiers, while others may begin to grow wingbuds, finally differentiating into primary reproductives; these become more numerous when the colony's resources are nearly depleted.

[7] The diet consists primarily of rotten wood, with symbiotic bacteria and protozoa present in the gut helping them to digest the cellulose.