''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 Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother was ...

, 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. ''Cryptocercus'' is especially notable for sharing numerous characteristics with

termites Termites are a group of detritophagous eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, and soil humus. They are distinguished by their moniliform antennae and the sof ...

, and

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

studies have shown this genus is more closely related to termites than it is to other cockroaches. These two lineages probably shared a common ancestor in the early Cretaceous.

Species

Found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and (especially

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

)

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, there are 12 known species: * '' Cryptocercus clevelandi'' Byers, 1997 * '' Cryptocercus darwini'' Burnside, Smith, Kambhampati, 1999 * '' Cryptocercus garciai'' Burnside, Smith, Kambhampati, 1999 * '' Cryptocercus hirtus'' Grandcolas, Bellés, 2005 * '' Cryptocercus kyebangensis'' Grandcolas, 2001 * '' Cryptocercus matilei'' Grandcolas, 2000 * '' Cryptocercus meridianus'' Grandcolas, Legendre, 2005 * '' Cryptocercus parvus'' Grandcolas, Park, 2005 * '' Cryptocercus primarius'' Bey-Bienko, 1938 * ''

Cryptocercus punctulatus ''Cryptocercus punctulatus'', known generally as brown-hooded cockroach, is a species of cockroach in the family Cryptocercidae. Other common names include the woodroach, wingless wood roach, and eastern wood-eating cockroach. It is found in No ...

'' Scudder, 1862 * '' Cryptocercus relictus'' Bey-Bienko, 1935 * '' Cryptocercus wrighti'' Burnside, Smith, Kambhampati, 1999

Species

References

Further reading