mudgutsn.
/ˈmʌdɡʌts/, U.S. /ˈmədˌɡəts/, Australian English /ˈmʌdɡʌts/ Australian colloquial.
A reddish-brown clay-like material found in tubular cavities inside tree trunks that have been attacked by termites, esp. ones of the genus Porotermes. Also occasionally in singular form mudgut.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Isoptera > member(s) of (termites)
white ant1625
wood-ant1709
termes1773
termite1781
termite ant1815
duck-ant1851
magnetic termite1935
mudguts1952
1952 F. N. Ratcliffe et al. Austral. Termites ix. 72 Porotermes does not construct a nest. After a time the centre of the trunk is usually completely eaten away to form a ‘pipe’, the cavity of which..is packed with a damp, reddish brown material known by foresters as ‘mud-guts’.
1961 A. R. Penfold & J. L. Willis Eucalypts viii. 164 At the bottom of the ‘pipe’, an accumulation of damp, reddish-brown, faecal pellets, popularly known as ‘mud-guts’, typically fills thin-walled partitions of uneaten wood.
1976 Jrnl. Austral. Inst. Hort. 2 18 On exposure to the weather the ‘mudguts’ dries out, becoming almost rock hard.
1978 J. Beretka Surv. Major Industr. Wastes & By-Products Austral. vii. 44 The core section of many eucalypt logs is hollow and filled with clay-like substance known locally as ‘mudgut’.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1952