In October 2024, the researchers discovered a full-blown hybrid colony in a Fort Lauderdale park, which had likely been active for more than five years before being detected. Chouvenc said that there are likely many more hundreds of colonies across South Florida that have not yet been found.
Both parent species are prolific breeders, capable of forming massive colonies and spreading rapidly. The fact that these hybrids are swarming—and potentially just as fertile—raises major red flags.
Fort Lauderdale’s status as a global boating hub may accelerate the spread. “This may be a Florida story now, but it likely won’t stay just in Florida,” Chouvenc warned. Private boats have previously been implicated in termite spread across the U.S. and internationally.
They don’t even say why they are the “worst termites”. What makes them worse than others?
The actual article is linked right there on the page
Dude, it’s in the synopsis in the post.
There are termites like that all over the world. Have you been to Africa? There are termite mounds bigger than 3 storey houses sticking out of the ground there (no photos unfortunately but Guiness World Record entry)). Looks at these ones in Brazil. Not only are they numerous, the area they cover is the size of Britain!
The article is rubbish. There’s no comparison, no more information about the type of termite what their average breeding cycle is compared to other termites, what they eat, what they are dangerous to, which climate they live in, etc. Garbage article.