Subterranean termites (Coptotermes acinaciformis) are probably Australia's most common termite species. I lifted a nursery tray and there they were, feeding on the coarse, damp fallen leaves from my Pouteria australis tree. Encounters like this seem to coincide with warm, wet, cloudy conditions following significant rain. When I lived in Perth (1992), I was shocked when I went in to a client's tool shed to see termite tunnels meandering up from the paved ground across the metal interior wall to