Dictyoptera is an insect superorder that includes two extant orders of polyneopterous insects: the order Blattodea and the order Mantodea (mantises). All modern Dictyoptera have short ovipositors and typically lay oothecae. The oldest fossils of Dictyoptera from the Late Carboniferous, referred to as "roachoids" have long ovipositors and did not lay oothecae. The oldest modern oothecae-laying dictyopterans date to the Late Triassic.
An ootheca is a type of egg capsule made by any member of a variety of species including mollusks, mantises, and cockroaches.
Fruitafossor was a termite-eating mammal endemic to North America during the Late Jurassic epoch.
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.
Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetic and molecular evidence suggests they evolved from within the cockroach lineage, cladistically making them cockroaches as well. The Blattodea and the mantis 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.
Cockroaches are insects belonging to the order Blattodea (Blattaria). About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known pests.
Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks. Their elongated bodies may or may not have wings, but all Mantodea have forelegs that are greatly enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey; their upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis.
Darekia is an extinct genus of winged insects that existed in what is now Poland, during the upper Carboniferous period. It is a monotypic genus, including only the species Darekia sanguinea. Darekia is considered a member of the extinct order Paoliida, a group that historically had controversial affinities and composition but have been resolved as the sister group of Dictyoptera by recent studies. The genus and species were described by Jakub Prokop, Wieslaw Krzemiński, Ewa Krzemińska, and Dariusz Wojciechowski in 2012.
Zdenekia is a genus of extinct winged insects from the Upper Carboniferous period. It contains the species Z. grandis from the Czech Republic, Z. occidentalis from Belgium, and Z. silesiensis from Poland. Zdenekia is considered a member of the extinct order Paoliida, a group that historically had controversial affinities and composition but have been resolved as the sister group of Dictyoptera by recent studies.
Mastotermes is a genus of termites. The sole living species is Mastotermes darwiniensis, found only in northern Australia. A number of extinct taxa are known from fossils. It is a very peculiar insect, the most primitive termite alive. As such, it shows notable similarities to cockroaches in the family Cryptocercidae, the termites' closest relatives. These similarities include the anal lobe of the wing and the laying of eggs in bunches, rather than singly. The termites were traditionally placed in the Exopterygota, but such an indiscriminate treatment makes that group a paraphyletic grade of basal neopterans. Thus, the cockroaches, termites and their relatives are nowadays placed in a clade called Dictyoptera.
Alienopteridae is an extinct family of dictyopterans, known from the Early Cretaceous to the Eocene epoch. They are noted for their unusual combination of features not found in other dictyopterans.
The cohort Polyneoptera is one of the major groups of winged insects, comprising the Orthoptera and all other neopteran insects believed to be more closely related to Orthoptera than to any other insect orders. They were formerly grouped together with the Palaeoptera and Paraneoptera as the Hemimetabola or Exopterygota on the grounds that they have no pupa, the wings gradually developing externally throughout the nymphal stages. Many members of the group have leathery forewings (tegmina) and hindwings with an enlarged anal field (vannus).
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 two extant genera and 5 living species. They may rarely infest structures but do not usually do so, nor do they cause extensive damage to buildings or other man-made structures unless said structure has been sufficiently damaged such as by water. As their name implies, they eat wood that is not dried out, perhaps even rotting, and are consequently of little use to humans.
2019 in paleoentomology is a list of new fossil insect taxa that were described during the year 2019, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleoentomology that were scheduled to occur during the year.
Burmese amber is fossil resin dating to the early Late Cretaceous Cenomanian age recovered from deposits in the Hukawng Valley of northern Myanmar. It is known for being one of the most diverse Cretaceous age amber paleobiotas, containing rich arthropod fossils, along with uncommon vertebrate fossils and even rare marine inclusions. A mostly complete list of all taxa described up to the end of 2023 can be found in Ross (2024).
This paleoentomology list records new fossil insect taxa that were to be described during the year 2021, as well as notes other significant paleoentomology discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
This paleoentomology list records new fossil insect taxa that are to be described during the year 2022, as well as notes other significant paleoentomology discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
Paoliida is an extinct order of winged insects that lived in the late Paleozoic. Historically, both their systematic position and composition were controversial – for instance they had been considered as palaeodictyopterans, as basal Neoptera, or as stem-group of Pterygota – but recent studies have resolved them as the sister group of Dictyoptera.
This list of 2024 in paleoentomology records new fossil insect taxa that are to be described during the year, as well as documents significant paleoentomology discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
