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Why are termites sometimes called white ants?

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Learn how termites use salivary secretions to cement debris to decaying wood nests in their rainforest habitat — termite A termite nest in a tropical rainforest.

Termites are sometimes referred to as "white ants" primarily because they are soft-bodied insects that are usually light in color. Despite this common nickname, termites are not closely related to true ants.12

While both groups live in social colonies, they belong to different biological orders. Termites are members of the order Isoptera (or sometimes placed within Dictyoptera) and are actually more closely related to cockroaches. In contrast, ants are hymenopterans, a group that also includes bees and wasps.21

Beyond their appearance, the two groups differ significantly in their physical structure and development. Unlike ants, termites lack the narrow "waist" where the thorax joins the abdomen, and they undergo a gradual (hemimetabolous) metamorphosis rather than the distinct larval and pupal stages seen in ants.1