Blattoidea

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Blattoidea
Archiblatta beccarii (36870587092).jpg
Cockroach, Archiblatta beccarii
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattodea
Superfamily: Blattoidea
Latreille, 1810
Pacific Coast Dampwood Termite, Zootermopsis angusticollis Pacific Coast Dampwood Termite - Zootermopsis angusticollis, Delta, British Columbia.jpg
Pacific Coast Dampwood Termite, Zootermopsis angusticollis

Blattoidea is a superfamily of cockroaches and termites in the order Blattodea. There are about 17 families and more than 4,100 described species in Blattoidea. [1] [2]

Contents

The 12 families of termites are sometimes considered members of the suborder Isoptera, but recent phylogenetic analysis places them within the cockroach superfamily Blattoidea. Within Blattoidea, the termites are grouped under the epifamily Termitoidae. [3] [4]

The great coal deposits of the Carboniferous Period have been attributed in part to the lack of wood-consuming insects such as blattoids, which do not appear in the fossil record until the late Carboniferous. [5] [6]

Families

These 17 families belong to the superfamily Blattoidea:

Cockroaches

Epifamily Blattoidae

Epifamily Cryptocercoidae

Termites

Epifamily Termitoidae

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dictyoptera</span> Superorder of insects

Dictyoptera is an insect superorder that includes two extant orders of polyneopterous insects: the order Blattodea and the order Mantodea (mantises). While all modern Dictyoptera have short ovipositors, the oldest fossils of Dictyoptera have long ovipositors, much like members of the Orthoptera.

Blattidae Family of cockroaches

Blattidae is a cockroach family in the order Blattodea containing several of the most common household cockroaches. Some notable species include:

Hemimetabolism

Hemimetabolism or hemimetaboly, also called incomplete metamorphosis and paurometabolism, is the mode of development of certain insects that includes three distinct stages: the egg, nymph, and the adult stage, or imago. These groups go through gradual changes; there is no pupal stage. The nymph often has a thin exoskeleton and resembles the adult stage but lacks wings and functional reproductive organs. The hemimetabolous insects differ from ametabolous taxa in that the one and only adult instar undergoes no further moulting.

<i>Cryptocercus</i> Genus of cockroaches

Cryptocercus is a genus of Dictyoptera and the sole member of its own family Cryptocercidae. Species are known as wood roaches or brown-hooded cockroaches. These roaches are subsocial, their young requiring considerable parental interaction. They also share wood-digesting gut bacteria types with wood-eating termites, and are therefore seen as evidence of a close genetic relationship, that termites are essentially evolved from social cockroaches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corydiidae</span> Family of cockroaches

Corydiidae, previously known as Polyphagidae, is a family of the order Blattodea (cockroaches). Many are known as sand cockroaches. The family is divided into five subfamilies, comprising some 40 genera. One prominent species is the desert cockroach, Arenivaga investigata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blattodea</span> Order of insects which includes cockroaches and termites

Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, the termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetic and molecular evidence suggests termites evolved from within the cockroach lineage, cladistically making them cockroaches as well. The Blattodea and the mantises are now all considered part of the superorder Dictyoptera. Blattodea includes approximately 4,400 species of cockroach in almost 500 genera, and about 3,000 species of termite in around 300 genera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cockroach</span> Insects of the order Blattodea

Cockroaches are a paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known as pests.

Blattoptera, or proto-cockroaches, is a name given to various "roachoid" fossil insects related to cockroaches, termites and mantises, and of general cockroach-like appearance and possibly habit. The group is on the rank of an order, though being paraphyletic is most often given without formal taxonomic rank. Several alternative names have been suggested for this fossil group, including Blattodea, a name currently used for the group including the modern cockroaches as well as their fossil relatives.

Tryonicidae Family of cockroaches

The Tryonicidae are a family of cockroaches.

Cephidae Family of sawflies

Cephidae is a family of stem sawflies in the order Hymenoptera. There are about 27 genera and more than 160 described species in Cephidae.

Corydioidea Superfamily of cockroaches

Corydioidea is a superfamily of insects in the order Blattodea, the cockroaches and termites. It contains two extant families, Corydiidae and Nocticolidae, comprising about fifty genera and two hundred and fifty species, along with the extinct family Liberiblattinidae. Members of this superfamily are found worldwide, mostly in hot, arid habitats.

This taxonomy of the Dermaptera follows Engel & Haas (2007) to the rank of Tribe.

Polyneoptera Group of insects

The cohort Polyneoptera is a proposed taxonomic ranking for the Orthoptera and all other Neopteran insects believed to be more closely related to Orthoptera than to any other insect orders. These winged insects, now in the Paraneoptera, were formerly grouped as the Hemimetabola or Exopterygota on the grounds that they have no metamorphosis, the wings gradually developing externally throughout the nymphal stages.

Archotermopsidae Family of termites

Archotermopsidae is a family of termites in the order Blattodea, known as dampwood termites, formerly included within the family Termopsidae. They constitute a small and rather primitive family with five extant genera and 13–20 living species. They may be a nuisance, but compared to the drywood termites (Kalotermitidae), usually do not cause extensive damage to buildings or other man-made structures. As their name implies, they eat wood that is not dried out, perhaps even rotting, and consequently of little use to humans.

Tenuirostritermes is a genus of termites in the family Termitidae. There are about five described species in Tenuirostritermes.

Stolotermitidae Family of termites

Stolotermitidae is a family of termites in the order Blattodea, with two extant genera formerly placed in the family Termopsidae. There are about 14 described species in Stolotermitidae.

Stylotermitidae Family of termites

Stylotermitidae is a family of termites in the order Blattodea. There are two extinct and one extant genera in Stylotermitidae, with more than 50 described species.

Anaplectidae Family of cockroaches

Anaplectidae is a family of cockroaches in the order Blattodea. Previously placed as a subfamily of the Ectobiidae there are presently (2020) two genera and more than 90 described species in Anaplectidae.

References

  1. "Blattoidea Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  2. Beccaloni, George W.; Eggleton, Paul (2013). Zhang, Z.-Q. (ed.). "Order Blattodea. In: Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness". Zootaxa. 3148. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.10 .
  3. Beccaloni, G.W. (2019). "Superfamily Blattoidea Latreille, 1810". Cockroach species file online, Version 5.0. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  4. Shaw, Scott R. Planet of the bugs: evolution and the rise of insects. Chicago. pp. 74–75. ISBN   9780226163758.
  5. McGhee, George R. Carboniferous giants and mass extinction: the late Paleozoic Ice Age world. New York. p. 99. ISBN   9780231180979.

Further reading