Unwelcome in polite society after leaving behind billions of dollars in property damage, the Formosan termite has been extended an invitation to chow down on walls, floors and ceilings at a specially built termite resort.
Researchers hope the sacrificial feast of four house frames will result in better ways of controlling the destructive, warm-climate insect and designing building materials with preservatives that will resist Formosan invasions.
"I don't think we'll ever eradicate them," said lead researcher Mike Sanders of Mississippi State University. "We have to find more durable building materials."
The experiments are being conducted at a research station 60 miles northeast of New Orleans, where the historic French Quarter is in danger of falling down from a siege of Formosans.