The Australian termites that damage houses

By Javier García · Updated 10 September 2026

Australia has hundreds of termite species. Only a small number matter to a building, and one of them matters far more than the rest.

Most termites are not a building problem

The Victorian Department of Health puts the numbers plainly: there are over 350 termite species in Australia, and only around twenty of them damage buildings. In Victoria, about five cause problems. The rest live in bush, grassland and dead wood doing what termites do, which is recycling cellulose, and they will never come near a house.

So the useful question is not "are there termites near me" (in most of Australia there are) but "which ones, and do they attack structural timber".

The genera that matter

Coptotermes

The one responsible for the majority of serious structural damage in Australian homes. Coptotermes species nest in a central location (inside a tree, inside a stump, under a slab, or inside the base of a wall) and forage outwards through the soil for tens of metres. They attack seasoned timber readily and build large colonies. They are the main reason termite management exists as an industry here.

Schedorhinotermes

Also a serious structural pest, and notable for having two distinct soldier forms (major and minor) which is one of the features used to identify it. Nests are often in stumps, in timber in contact with the ground, or under buildings. Damage can be severe and, like Coptotermes, it is frequently found in the subfloor.

Nasutitermes

Recognisable by soldiers with a pointed, nozzle-like head, which they use to eject a defensive secretion. Several species build the visible mounds and the dark, rounded nests you see on tree trunks. They tend to prefer decaying and weathered timber over sound seasoned timber, so they are a lesser structural threat than the two above. But "lesser" is not "none", particularly where fences, decking and damp timber are involved.

Mastotermes

Restricted to northern Australia, and the most destructive termite in the country by reputation. It has an unusually broad diet (it will attack timber, but also rubber, leather, plastics and living trees) and colonies are very large. Its range is limited, which is the only good news about it.

Subterranean and drywood

Cutting across the genera is a distinction that changes everything about the response. Subterranean termites maintain contact with soil or another moisture source and travel through it; nearly every Australian house problem is subterranean.

And every barrier and soil treatment strategy is built around that fact. Drywood termites live entirely inside the timber they eat and need no soil contact, which makes soil barriers irrelevant to them and gives them a different treatment path altogether.

Why the genus changes the treatment

The treatment strategy depends on where the colony is and how it forages. A species that nests centrally and forages widely may be a candidate for baiting aimed at the colony. A species whose nest can be located may be treated directly. A species that only attacks damp, decayed timber points you straight at the moisture rather than at the insect.

That identification is made by the inspector, from soldiers, under magnification. It is not made from a photograph, and it is worth pushing back if anyone offers to do it that way.

The number that matters is twenty, not three hundred and fifty

Australia has more than 350 described termite species, and the overwhelming majority live entirely in the bush. They feed on dead grass, fallen timber and stumps, never come near a building, and do useful ecological work breaking down dead plant material. Most will never see the inside of a house. Of that full list, around twenty species are recognised as damaging to timber in service, meaning they will attack structural timber, fences, decking or stored wood.

If you have been told “it's just an Australian termite” as though that settles anything, it does not. The label covers everything from a grass-feeding mound builder in the outback that will never touch a house to a genus responsible for the bulk of the country's structural termite damage. The two have almost nothing in common beyond both being termites. The country tells you where. It does not tell you what.

Distribution is not uniform, and that changes what “Australian” covers

A termite in tropical Queensland is not competing with the same handful of species as one in Adelaide. Mastotermes darwiniensis is the country's most destructive species and the only one that will attack living trees, rubber and some plastics as well as timber. It is confined to the northern tropics.

It does not occur further south at all. Species established in one state can be entirely absent from another. That is one reason a treatment approach that works well in Brisbane is not automatically the right one in Perth.

Category	Roughly how many species	Building risk
All Australian termite species	350+	Almost none; most never encounter a building
Species that damage timber in service	~20	The species this site is actually about
Species responsible for most serious structural damage	A handful, mainly Coptotermes	High; the reason the inspection and treatment industry exists

How the genus gets identified, properly

Not from a description, and not from a photo of a swarm or a mud tube. Genus and species are separated on soldiers under magnification, using head shape and other features that a general description cannot capture reliably. If you have found live insects, the useful thing to do is collect a few in a sealed container, note the date and the exact location. And hand them to an inspector working to AS 4349.3, rather than trying to settle the genus yourself.

What you should not do, whatever species turns out to be involved, is disturb the find while you wait: no breaking tubes, no probing the timber further, no spraying. The fifteen-minute walk-around is the touch-nothing way to look over the rest of the property before the inspector arrives.

Frequently asked questions

Which termite is the worst in Australia?

Mastotermes darwiniensis is generally considered the most destructive, but it is confined to the north. For most of the country the species that causes the most structural damage to homes is Coptotermes.

Does the species change how urgent it is?

It changes the likely nest location and the appropriate strategy. It does not change the immediate advice, which is the same for all of them: do not disturb the workings, and get an inspection.

Can I identify the species myself?

Not reliably. Identification is done on soldier head shape and mandible structure under magnification. Collect specimens and let the inspector do it: getting it wrong changes the treatment.

Sources

What this page explains is based on these official sources. If you check one and it does not match what you read here, send it to us and the article gets corrected.

Department of Health, Victoria. Pest control — termites
Standards Australia. Australian Standards (AS 3660 termite management, AS 4349.3 timber pest inspection)