Formosa is the Portuguese word for “beautiful”. It was the name given to Taiwan by sailors passing by in the 16th century. The name was changed in 1949, but it still lingers on in people’s minds, in the names of local businesses, and in one annoying global pest.

The Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus) was first described in Taiwan in the early 1900s and although it originated in China, the name stuck. From there, wandering humans took it all over the world. It’s what most people think of when they hear the word “termite”—a small, white insect that eats wood and sometimes, specifically, the wood in your house. Each individual is no more gluttonous than your average termite, but the