Super-invasive termites could spread from Florida around the world

Florida’s newest termite is two for the price of one, but nobody’s celebrating. Two species of globally invasive, timber-chewing insects are interbreeding there, creating hybrid colonies that could produce incredibly hardy termites that threaten buildings and forests alike.

The findings are “interesting and alarming” says Edouard Duquesne at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, who was not involved with the research. “Viable hybrids of these two species would likely lead to a super-invasive termite that could potentially have a huge suitable range worldwide, and that could do important damages.”

As of 2010, termite pests were responsible for about $40 billion in damages globally every year, with around 80 per cent of that cost coming from subterranean termites like Coptotermes. The Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus) has invaded much of the northern hemisphere’s warm temperate zones. The related Asian subterranean termite (Coptotermes gestroi) has spread from South-East Asia throughout the world’s tropics. The two species have overlapped in southern Florida since the late 1990s, says Thomas Chouvenc at the University of Florida.

In 2015, Chouvenc and his colleagues showed that the two species could successfully produce hybrid offspring in the lab. In 2021, Chouvenc found alates – winged termites that leave the nest to mate and start new ones – whose appearance was between the Formosan and smaller, darker Asian species. These were spotted in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and genetic analyses later confirmed them as hybrids. The team also discovered a hybrid nest in a local park next to a marina.

In 2024, wild hybrids were confirmed by researchers in Taiwan, where the two species have overlapped for a century. The termites are now interbreeding in southern Florida.

“Wherever the two species are co-occurring, it’s just a matter of time before they get a chance to hybridise and establish hybrid populations,” says Chouvenc.

The researchers also found that first-generation hybrid females could mate and form colonies with the males of either parental species. Chouvenc is concerned that if genes can flow between species, the result may be an equally destructive termite population that can thrive in a wider range of environmental conditions like temperature. The termites’ location near exceptionally busy ports increases the likelihood that such hybrids could infiltrate boats and spread globally.

“[Humans] allowed these termites to spread because we were not really paying attention,” says Chouvenc. “Now we are kind of paying the price for it.”