Blattoidea is a superfamily of cockroaches and termites in the order

Blattodea 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 ...

. 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 In biological classification, taxonomic rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in an ancestral or hereditary hierarchy. A common system consists of species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain. While olde ...

Termitoidae Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...

. 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 elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

deposits of the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

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.

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. Some notable species include: * ''Blatta orientalis'': Oriental cockroach, * Common shining cockroach: (''Drymaplaneta commun ...

Latreille, 1810 *

Lamproblattidae Lamproblattidae is a small family of South and Central American cockroaches in the order Blattodea Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but g ...

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 ''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 considerab ...

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 considera ...

Handlirsch, 1925 (brown-hooded cockroaches)

Termites

Epifamily

* Archotermopsidae Engel et al., 2009 (rottenwood termites) * Hodotermitidae Desneux, 1904 * Kalotermitidae Froggart, 1897 (drywood termites) *

Mastotermitidae Mastotermitidae is a family of termites with one sole living species, ''Mastotermes darwiniensis'' which is found only in northern Australia. The remaining genera of this family are only known from the fossil record. Fossil record Numerous foss ...

Desneux 1904 * Rhinotermitidae Froggart, 1897 (subterranean termites) * Serritermitidae Holmgren, 1910 *

Stolotermitidae Stolotermitidae is a family of termites in the order Blattodea, with two extant genera formerly placed in the family Termopsidae Termopsidae is an extinct family of termites in the order Blattodea. The five extant genera formerly included in T ...

Holmgren, 1910 *

Stylotermitidae Stylotermitidae is a family of termites in the order Blattodea Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetic and molecular evidence sugge ...

Holmgren & Holmgren, 1917 * Termitidae Latreille, 1802 (higher termites) * †

Archeorhinotermitidae ''Archeorhinotermes'' is an extinct genus of termites in the family Archeorhinotermitidae ''Archeorhinotermes'' is an extinct genus of termites in the family Archeorhinotermitidae, and is the sole genus of the family. There is one described s ...

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 Holmgren, 1911

References

External links

* Blattodea Insect superfamilies {{cockroach-stub

Families

Cockroaches

Termites

References

Further reading

External links