ENTOMOPHOBICS beware: The termites are back in Shanghai, and this year they really mean business.

The recent sultry weather has been the catalyst for the emergence of the pesky pests and huge numbers of them have begun appearing in buildings across the city, exterminators told Shanghai Daily yesterday.

“Already this week I’ve been called out to several houses that were home to colonies of between 20,000 and 30,000 termites,” said Zhang Baoxing, an exterminator with Xufang Greenery Co Ltd.