Termites, white ants; order of small social insects that construct nests on or in hollow trees, rotten wood, or the ground, which vary in size from a few centimeters with less than a hundred individuals to huge earth mounds measuring several meters with millions of colony members.

Their caste structure includes morphologically distinct reproductives, soldiers, and workers; adults (imagos) possess two pairs of long wings.

Secondary reproductives (neotenics) are typically blind, wingless and unpigmented; soldiers are usually blind, sterile and wingless with large heads and strong jaws; workers are mostly sterile and blind, with soft white cuticle (white ants).

The name of the termites' order is derived from their having equal wings.