In a mature colony, some eggs develop into winged reproductives, known as alates.

A mature colony contains distinct groups called castes.

Thus, mature colonies often include some dead stems intermingled with numerous live stems.

Each colony digs an average of five such burrows a year, and a mature colony may have over a hundred.

A mature colony contains 5-8 million workers.

However, a mature colony of several million workers faces very few dangers.

In fact, in an established, mature colony with at least a dozen females, spawning will be observed about every three days.

The growth rate is the length of time required to form mature colonies visible without magnification on solid media.

Small mature colonies are physically removed from the reef and shifted into a laboratory tank for spawning.

Workers' bodies are usually dark red and those in a mature colony are on average 6 mm long.