From Wikimalia
| The Bug Collection
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| Heillsa Stone Termite
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| Habitat: | Heillsa mountain range.
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| Description: | Approximately a thum long, this ant-like insect is generally a dark purplish blue, but is often coated with a micro-fine layer of stone dust, which can make it appear almost any stone color. Their mandibles are formidable, capable of slowing chewing through even the hardest stone, aided by a secretion that is salivated onto rock surfaces to soften it. Their thickened middle section can dissolve and hold a third of their total body volume in 'Heillsa cement', which is late regurgitated for many ingenious purposes. Thick antennae wave and probe from just above two side-facing bulbous eyes, dimpled by a large black pupil. Their hind section is segments and partially prehensile, which is useful in employing a rear-facing set of pincers for anchoring the termite in stone. Six powerful legs support the insect, and can lift many tens of times the termite's weight.
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| Notes: | Although the ancient secret uses of the many products and benefits derived from the stone termite have long been lost, science awaits more data, observations and living and dead specimens for study. Stone termites have been used historically in siege warfare, construction, food production and fizzix studies, although the precise strategies are no longer documented.
Their lifestyle is colonial, like ants, save that they dwell in stone. They protect multiple queens, the matriarchal egg-layers, and are responsible for countless cave-ins, avalanches and sinkholes.
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Great care must be used in collection stone termites, as they can deliver vicious bites, scratches and pinches when molested. Their mandibles, legs and prehensile rear pincers leave precious few places to safely grab one. They are nearly impossible to crush with normal human strength and weight, but are highly vulnerable to flame.
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