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Termites are eusocial insects which are classified at the taxonomic rank of infraorder Isoptera, or as epifamily Termitoidae within the cockroach order Blattodea. Termites were once classified in another sequence from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from near ancestors of cockroaches during the Jurassic or Triassic.

Approximately 3,106 species are currently clarified, using a couple hundred more left to be described. Although these insects are often called"white ants", they are not ants. .

Like ants and a few bees and wasps in the separate order Hymenoptera, termites divide labour among castes consisting of sterile male and female"workers" and"soldiers". All colonies have fertile males called"kings" and one or more fertile females called"queens". Termites chiefly feed on dead plant material and cellulose, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, dirt, or animal dung.

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Termites are among the most successful groups of insects on Earth, colonising many landmasses except Antarctica. Their colonies range in size from a few hundred individuals to enormous societies using many million individuals. Termite queens have the longest lifespan of any insect in the world, with some queens reportedly living around 30 to 50 years.

Colonies are called superorganisms because the termites form part of a self-regulating entity: the colony itself. .

Termites are a delicacy in the diet of several human cultures and are employed in many traditional medicines. A couple hundred species are economically significant as insects that can cause serious damage to buildings, plants, or plantation forests. Some species, such as the West Indian drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis), are considered as invasive species. .

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The infraorder name Isoptera is derived from the Greek words iso (equivalent ) and ptera (winged), which refers to the nearly equal size of their fore and hind wings.2"Termite" derives from the Latin and Late Latin word termes ("woodworm, white ant"), modified from the influence of Latin terere ("to rub, wear, erode") by the earlier word tarmes.

The external appearance of this giant northern termite Mastotermes darwiniensis is indicative of the close relationship between termites and cockroaches.

Termites were formerly put in the order Isoptera. As early as 1934 suggestions were made they were closely related to wood-eating cockroaches (genus Cryptocercus, the woodroach) dependent on the similarity of the symbiotic gut flagellates.6 In the 1960s additional evidence supporting that theory emerged when F. A. McKittrick noted similar morphological traits between a number of termites and this Cryptocercus nymphs.7 In 2008 DNA analysis from 16S rRNA sequences8 supported the position of termites being nested within the evolutionary tree containing the sequence Blattodea, which included that the cockroaches.910 The cockroach genus Cryptocercus shares the strongest phylogenetical similarity with termites and is considered to be a sister-group to termites.1112 Termites and Cryptocercus share similar morphological and social features: for example, most cockroaches do not display societal attributes, but Cryptocercus takes good care of its own young and displays other social behavior like trophallaxis and allogrooming.13 Termites are regarded as the descendants of the genus Cryptocercus.914 Some researchers have suggested a more conservative measure of retaining the termites as the Termitoidae, an epifamily within the cockroach order, which preserves the classification of termites at family level and under.15 Termites have long been approved to be closely associated with cockroaches and mantids, and they're classified in precisely the same superorder (Dictyoptera).1617.

The oldest unambiguous termite fossils date to the early Cretaceous, but given the diversity of Cretaceous termites and early fossil records showing mutualism between microorganisms and these insects, they likely originated before in the Jurassic or Triassic.181920 Further evidence of a Jurassic origin is the assumption that the extinct Fruitafossor consumed termites, judging from its morphological similarity to modern termite-eating mammals.21 The oldest termite nest discovered is thought to be by the Upper Cretaceous in West Texas, where the oldest known faecal pellets have been discovered.22 Claims that termites emerged previously have confronted controversy.

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Weesner indicated the Mastotermitidae termites may return to the Late Permian, 251 million years ago,23 and fossil wings which have a close resemblance to the wings of Mastotermes of the Mastotermitidae, the most primitive living termite, have been found in the Permian layers in Kansas.24 It is even possible that the first termites emerged during the Carboniferous.25 The folded wings of the fossil wood roach Pycnoblattina, arranged in a convex pattern between segments 1a and 2a, resemble those seen in Mastotermes, the only living insect with the identical pattern.24 Krishna et al., however, consider that each one of the Paleozoic and Triassic insects tentatively categorized as termites are in fact unrelated to termites and needs to be excluded out of the Isoptera.26 The crude giant northern termite (Mastotermes darwiniensis) exhibits numerous cockroach-like attributes which are not shared with other termites, like laying its eggs in rafts and having anal lobes on the wings.27 Cryptocercidae and Isoptera are united in the clade Xylophagidae.28 Termites are sometimes known as"white ants" but the only resemblance to the ants is because of their sociality that's because of convergent evolution2930 with termites being the very first social insects to evolve a caste system more than 100 million years ago.31 Termite genomes are generally relatively large in comparison to that of other insects; the first fully sequenced termite genome, of Zootermopsis nevadensis, which was published in the journal Nature Communications, consists of roughly 500Mb,32 while two subsequently published genomes, Macrotermes natalensis and Cryptotermes secundus, are considerably larger at around 1.3Gb.3330.