Macrotermes natalensis

All the fungus-growing termite colonies similar caste systems. Each caste plays a different roles in the colony, but it is not yet known how caste selection occurs. The primary reproductive caste or royal pair is made up of a king and a queen. The winged alates make up the secondary reproductive caste. Sterile castes do not possess any reproductive capacity and include workers and soldiers, both major and minor.

Termitomyces fungi play a major role in termite nutrition. They also influence termite survival and caste development. The fungal garden is managed by the worker caste.

In a mature M. natalensis colony, older workers collect dead plant material along with Termitomyces asexual spores from their habitat and pass these on to the younger workers. The young workers only stay in the nest. They receive the plant material and ingest it along with the Termitomyces spores. Later, young workers defecate this blended plant material, along with fungal spores, somewhere in the colony nest. It forms a "comb", where the fungal mycelium establishes a dense network. The Termitomyces fungi use the nutrients from the comb and complete their life cycle with fruiting bodies or fungal nodules.