 "Mastotermes darwiniensis" is usually not very numerous, nor are the colonies large when left to natural conditions.However, when given abundant water(such as regular irrigation) and favourable food & soil conditions (such as stored timber or timber structures), populations can be enormous, numbering in the millions, quickly destroying their host.Its diet is varied, as it will eat introduced plants, damage ivory and leather, and wood and debris, in fact almost anything organic.