Blattoidea is a superfamily of
cockroach
Cockroaches (or roaches) are insects belonging to the Order (biology), order Blattodea (Blattaria). About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known Pest (organism), pests.
Modern cockro ...
es and
termite
Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...
s in the order
Blattodea
Blattodea is an order (biology), order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetics, genetic and molecular evidence suggests they evolved from within the cockroach ...
. There are about 17 families and more than 4,100 described species in Blattoidea.
[
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.][
The great ]coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
deposits of the Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...
Period have been attributed in part to the lack of wood-consuming insects such as blattoids, which do not appear in the fossil record
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
until the late Carboniferous.
Families
These 17 families belong to the superfamily Blattoidea:
Cockroaches
Epifamily Blattoidae
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.
The 12 families of termites are sometimes considered members of the suborder Isopte ...
* Anaplectidae Walker, 1868
* Blattidae
Blattidae is a cockroach family in the order Blattodea containing several of the most common household cockroaches. Notable species include:
* '' Blatta orientalis'': Oriental cockroach,
* Common shining cockroach: (''Drymaplaneta communis'' ...
Latreille, 1810
* Lamproblattidae McKittrick, 1964
* Tryonicidae
The Tryonicidae are a family of cockroaches.
Biodiversity and distribution
Two genera containing 17 species are currently confirmed as belonging to this family.
Table 1: Number of species of Tryonicidae in each region in which it is present (A ...
McKittrick & Mackerras, 1965
Epifamily Cryptocercoidae
* Cryptocercidae
''Cryptocercus'' is a genus of Dictyoptera (cockroaches and allies) 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 consider ...
Handlirsch, 1925 (brown-hooded cockroaches)
Termites
Epifamily Termitoidae
* Archotermopsidae
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 m ...
Engel et al., 2009 (rottenwood termites)
* Hodotermitidae
The Hodotermitidae (from Greek ὁδός (hodós), travelling; Latin '' termes'', woodworm) are a basal Old World family of termites known as the harvester termites. They are distinguished by the serrated inner edge of their mandibles, and th ...
Desneux, 1904
* Kalotermitidae
Kalotermitidae (drywood termites), are a basal family with a roughly cosmopolitan circumtropical distribution. With 21 genera and 419 species, it is the second most diverse termite family after the Termitidae. The majority of members are functio ...
Froggart, 1897 (drywood termites)
* Mastotermitidae Desneux 1904
* Rhinotermitidae
Rhinotermitidae, sensu novo are a family (biology), family of Neoisoptera, Neoisopteran termites represented by genera formerly held within the now historical subfamily Rhinotermitinae. The soldiers of Rhinotermitidae notably possess a labral bru ...
Froggart, 1897 (subterranean termites)
* Serritermitidae
Serritermitidae is a family of termites belonging to the infraorder Isoptera in the order Blattodea
Blattodea is an order (biology), order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate orde ...
Holmgren, 1910
* Stolotermitidae
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.
Genera
GBIF and the ''Termite Catalogue'' list the followi ...
Holmgren, 1910
* Stylotermitidae
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.
Genera
These three genera belong to the family Stylotermitidae:
* ''Stylotermes' ...
Holmgren & Holmgren, 1917
* Termitidae
Termitidae is the largest family of termites consisting of 2,125 described species of which are commonly known as the higher termites. They are evolutionarily the most specialised termite group, with their highly compartmentalized hindgut lackin ...
Latreille, 1802 (higher termites)
* † Archeorhinotermitidae
''Archeorhinotermes'' is an extinct genus of termites in the family Archeorhinotermitidae, and is the sole genus of the family. There is one described species in ''Archeorhinotermes'', ''A. rossi''. It was discovered in Burmese amber.
Refe ...
Krishna, 2003
* † Cratomastotermitidae
''Cratomastotermes'' is an extinct genus of termites in the family Cratomastotermitidae, the sole genus of the family. There is one described species in ''Cratomastotermes'', ''C. wolfschwenningeri''.
References
Termites
Taxa named ...
Engel et al., 2009
* † Termopsidae
Termopsidae is an extinct family of termites in the order Blattodea. The five extant genera formerly included in Termopsidae ('' Archotermopsis'', '' Hodotermopsis'', '' Porotermes'', '' Stolotermes'', and '' Zootermopsis'') now belong in their ow ...
Holmgren, 1911
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Blattodea
Insect superfamilies
{{cockroach-stub