Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Order Blattodea - Cockroaches and Termites

Green Banana Cockroach - Panchlora nivea Surinam roach - Pycnoscelus surinamensis Pale Bordered Field Cockroach 1 - Pseudomops septentrionalis Brown-hooded Cockroach - Cryptocercus garciai Arenivaga bolliana (Saussure) - Arenivaga bolliana - male termites - Reticulitermes Subterranean Termite? - Reticulitermes Pacific Dampwood Termite Reproductive -- Zootermopsis angusticollis - Zootermopsis angusticollis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Blattodea (Cockroaches and Termites)
Other Common Names
Roaches
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Sometimes considered a suborder of order Dictyoptera (treated here as a superorder.) Termites used to be treated as a separate order (Isoptera). The Guide follows classification adopted in (1)
Explanation of Names
Blattaria Latreille 1810
Numbers
~70 spp. of cockroaches and 44 spp. of termites in our area(2)(3); worldwide, ~4,600 spp. in ~500 genera of 7 families of cockroaches and ~3000 spp. in ~300 genera of 9 families of termites (~7,500 spp. in ~770 genera combined)(1)(4)
Overview of our fauna (* –taxa not yet in the guide; classification adapted from(1)(5)):
Order Blattodea
Superfamily BLABEROIDEA
Family Blaberidae
Subfamily Oxyhaloinae [Tribe *Gromphadorhini: *Gromphadorhina] Tribe Nauphoetini: Nauphoeta · *Rhyparobia
Family Ectobiidae
Superfamily BLATTOIDEA
Epifamily BLATTOIDAE
Family Blattidae
Epifamily CRYPTOCERCOIDAE
Epifamily TERMITOIDAE
Family Termitidae
Superfamily CORYDIOIDEA
Family Corydiidae
Range
worldwide and throughout NA
Habitat
Most our species live outdoors; those found indoors may be "pest" species or get inside inadvertently
Life Cycle
Remarks
synanthropic spp. discussed in (7)
Print References
(8)(9)
Internet References
Fact sheet, synanthropic spp. (Rust & Reierson 2007)(10)
Works Cited
1.Beccaloni G.W. (2007‒2023) Cockroach species file
2.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.
3.Catalog and atlas of the cockroaches (Dictyoptera) of North America north of Mexico
Atkinson T.H., Koehler P.G., Patterson R.S. 1991. Misc. Publ. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 78: 1-86.
4.Annotated checklist of the cockroaches of Florida (Dictyoptera: Blattaria: Blattidae, Polyphagidae, Blattellidae, Blaberidae)
Atkinson T.H., Koehler P.G., Patterson R.S. 1990. Florida Entomologist 73: 303-327.
5.Constantino R. (2002-2012) On-line termite database
6.The Insects : Structure and Function
R. F. Chapman. 1998. Cambridge University Press.
7.Urban entomology
Ebeling W. 1978. University of California Division of Agricultural Sciences: 695 pp.
8.Synopsis of Orthoptera (sensu lato) of Alabama
Matt E. Dakin, Jr., and Kirby L. Hays. 1970. Auburn University Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin, No. 404.
9.The Insect and Arachnids of Canada. Part 14. The grasshoppers, crickets, and related insects of Canada and adjacent regions...
Vickery, V. R. and D. K. McE. Kevan. 1986. Biosystematics Research Institute, Agriculture Canada.
10.University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program