Termite
Predators

Termites are consumed by a wide variety of predators. One termite species alone, Hodotermes mossambicus, was reported (1990) in the stomach contents of 65 birds and 19 mammals. Arthropods such as ants, centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, scorpions and spiders, reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs and toads consume termites, with two spiders in the family Ammoxenidae being specialist termite predators. Other predators include aardvarks, aardwolves, anteaters, bats, bears, bilbies, many birds, echidnas, foxes, galagos, numbats, mice and pangolins. The aardwolf is an insectivorous mammal that primarily feeds on termites; it locates its food by sound and also by detecting the scent secreted by the soldiers; a single aardwolf is capable of consuming thousands of termites in a single night by using its long, sticky tongue. Sloth bears break open mounds to consume the nestmates, while chimpanzees have developed tools to "fish" termites from their nest. Wear pattern analysis of bone tools used by the early hominin Paranthropus robustus suggests that they used these tools to dig into termite mounds.

Among all predators, ants are the greatest enemy to termites. Some ant genera are specialist predators of termites. For example, Megaponera is a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) genus that perform raiding activities, some lasting several hours. Paltothyreus tarsatus is another termite-raiding species, with each individual stacking as many termites as possible in its mandibles before returning home, all the while recruiting additional nestmates to the raiding site through chemical trails. The Malaysian basicerotine ants Eurhopalothrix heliscata uses a different strategy of termite hunting by pressing themselves into tight spaces, as they hunt through rotting wood housing termite colonies. Once inside, the ants seize their prey by using their short but sharp mandibles. Tetramorium uelense is a specialised predator species that feeds on small termites. A scout recruits 10–30 workers to an area where termites are present, killing them by immobilising them with their stinger. Centromyrmex and Iridomyrmex colonies sometimes nest in termite mounds, and so the termites are preyed on by these ants. No evidence for any kind of relationship (other than a predatory one) is known. Other ants, including Acanthostichus, Camponotus, Crematogaster, Cylindromyrmex, Leptogenys, Odontomachus, Ophthalmopone, Pachycondyla, Rhytidoponera, Solenopsis and Wasmannia, also prey on termites. Specialized subterranean species of army ants such as ones in the genus Dorylus are known to commonly predate on young Macrotermes colonies.

Ants are not the only invertebrates that perform raids. Many sphecoid wasps and several species including Polybia and Angiopolybia are known to raid termite mounds during the termites' nuptial flight.
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