Forest specialist in the Guinea-Congolese block. It has very distinctive, highly structured, carton mounds, usually built against tree trunks or large fallen logs. The outer surface of the mound is extremely hard, formed of dark brown carton, 5-10 cm thick. Under this crust the carton becomes softer, and formed of sheets of light brown carton. At the bottom of the mound is another hard carton shell within which lies the queen cell. Collins (19xx) showed that the nest is kept above ambient temperature, and many nests have large open tunnels in the surface that may have a ventilation function. In defensive terms, the nest appears to be of 'labyrinth' construction, and collecting termites from it can be extremely time consuming, as they retreat rapidly into deeper parts of the nest when the nest is broken into.
The queen is highly physogastric, perhaps proportionally the most physogastric known (Sands, 1998).
Cephalotermes are rarely encountered in soil pits, and may forage only short distances. Group II feeder, perhaps preferring rather well rotted logs.
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