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King and Queen
The queen termite is capable of living for 50 years if conditions are ideal. In that time, she will lay millions of termite eggs. The queen ensures her place by releasing powerful pheromones that prevent the development of another queen in the same colony. Only when the queen dies and ceases pheromone expulsion can a larva develop into a replacement. She mates with one sexually active king termite, and together, they populate their colony or termite mound.
Eggs
The king and queen termites produce millions of eggs each year. Termite eggs molt multiple times after they've been laid. At first, the eggs resemble caviar, only much smaller, but large enough to see with the human eye, appearing small, oval and white. The queen's first clutch contains roughly two dozen eggs with each subsequent clutch being smaller than the last. However, since a queen can lay eggs multiple times a year, the colony quickly expands.
Larva
Larva hatch from the eggs after a few short weeks and are tended to immediately by workers. The larva are almost identical in size to the eggs from which they hatched and require constant feeding by workers to grow. Larva molt five times before they become mature adults. The larva molt into one of the three castes based on what's needed by the colony.
The Castes
Workers are both sexually and mentally immature; however, without workers, the colony could never expand. It's their job to build tunnels, provide food, and tend to the needy larva. Workers are also responsible for grooming and pampering the other castes. Soldiers have overgrown mandibles to help them protect the colony in combat. As a result of the exceedingly large mandibles, soldiers aren't capable of feeding themselves and require help from worker termites. Reproductive termites are born with wings and are sexually active. They immediately leave the colony, swarm and then reproduce to begin a colony of their own. Due to the lack of rigidity in the caste system, members of each caste can suddenly metamorphose into another, depending on what the colony needs; for example, if the colony is under attack and the current stock of soldiers are being defeated, workers will spontaneously transform into soldiers.