are ants and termites related?

Answer 1

They both belong to the same phylum, the Arthropoda, and the same class, Insecta.
But ants are members of order Hymenoptera (like bees and wasps), while termites belong to order Isoptera.

In terms of taxonomical categories, they're as closely related as humans (order Primates) to guinea pigs (order Rodentia).

Here's a whole chapter about insect phylogeny in case you're interested:
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/gullanandcranstonlab/Gullanpdfs/phylogenychapter.pdf

Answer 2

Ants and Termites originated from the same path, ages ago and are very social so people assume them to be in the same family.
Ants are the Classification:
Formicidae-Hymenoptera,
and Termites are Isoptera.
Termites depend on parasites help in digesting wood.

Answer 3

They are not closely related but all insects descended from a common ancestor. I have heard that ants descended from wasps and termites from something like a cockroach.

Answer 4

I agree with the person who said that they are in different groups within insect.
They do have the same social structure. A queen who lays thousands of eggs which hatch into female workers.
And a few lazy males whose job is to fertalize the queen.

Answer 5

yeah, they are both house pests...