Xyalaria sp. are known to be associated with termites. However, the benefit therntermites get from this association is not yet known. Termites collect wood piecesrnfrom the surrounding and collect it in the mound. The wood is then converted tornsoft spongy mass, called comb. The comb is normally invaded with fungal mycelia.rnIt is well known that termites use cellulose as energy source after degradation tornglucose with the help of microbial cellulases in the gut. But lignified cellulosesrncan not be digested by cellulases. We hypothesize that the fungus probably helpsrnto delignify cellulose fiber either directly through lignin degradation or throughrnremoval of the hemicellulose that cement the lignin to the cellulose fiber. To testrnthis hypothesis we collected termite comb from Zuway and extracted proteins.rnThe extract showed high xylanase activity (24U/g comb) and no detectablerncellulase activity. This indicates that the role of the fungus is probably to removernlignin from the cellulose fiber. The fact that there was no detectable cellulase inrnthe comb indicates that the fungus and the termite are not competing forrncellulose. The fungus was isolated from the comb in pure culture. It was thenrngrown m culture usmg submerged fermentation (SmF) and solidÂ·staternfermentation (SSF). However, enzyme production in SSF was much higher thanrnin SmF. Maximum enzyme production in SSF using wheat bran was obtained at arnsubstrate to moisture level ratio of 1:0.5 to 1:2. Addition of different sugars to thernSSF substrate didn't affect enzyme production, indicating that enzyme productionrnis probably constitutive. The xylanase was optimally active in the pH range of 4 torn6 and at temperature of 40Â°c. These properties make Xylaria xylanase potentiallyrnattractive as animal feed supplements.rnKey words: Xylaria, Xylanase, Cellulase, Termites