Blattoidea

Cretaceous predatory roach Raphidiomimula burmitica, from Grimaldi & Ross (2004).

Belongs within: Dictyoptera.
Contains: Mantodea, Isoptera, Blattaria.

The cockroach superfamily Blattoidea, as used by Vršanský et al. (2002), is paraphyletic to Polyphagoidea, Mantodea and Isoptera, and hence includes all crown-group dictyopterans and some related fossil families. These include the Raphidiomimidae, a Late Jurassic to Cretaceous group of predatory roaches with long slender legs, of which the front pair are raptorial (Grimaldi & Ross 2004). They also include the Upper Jurassic Skok svaba, which exhibited adaptations for jumping (Bohn et al. 2010).

Synapomorphies (from Vršanský et al. 2002): Ovipositor very short externally; eggs laid in two-row packages (in crown taxa at least); size small (body length under 20 mm, fore wing about 8-15 mm); fore wing elongate, with fore and hind margins parallel.

<==Blattoidea [Polyphagoidea] VVR02
    |--+--Blattulidae GE05
    |  |    |--Elisama vidlickai Vršanský 2004 V10
    |  |    `--Tarakanula shcherbakovi VLR09
    |  `--+--+--Liberiblattina GR04 [Liberiblattinidae V10]
    |     |  |    `--L. ihringovae GR04
    |     |  |--+--Eadiidae V10
    |     |  |  `--Mantodea GE05
    |     |  |--Skok [Skokidae] V10
    |     |  |    `--S. svaba Vršanský 2007 BP10
    |     |  `--Isoptera V10
    |     `--Blattaria GE05
    `--+--Mesoblattinidae GE05
       |    |--Mesoblattina protypa VVR02
       |    |--Hispanoblatta sumptuosa VVR02
       |    |--Artitocoblatta asiatica VVR02
       |    `--Austroblattula F71
       `--Raphidiomimidae GE05
            |--Raphidiomima Vishniakova 1973 GR04
            |    |--R. chimaera GR04
            |    `--R. cognata VVR02
            |--Cretaceochorista Z02
            |--Rhipidoblattina katavica GE05
            |--Raphidiomimula Grimaldi & Ross 2004 GR04
            |    `--*R. burmitica Grimaldi & Ross 2004 GR04
            `--Cameloblatta variegata GR04

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BP10] Bohn, H., M. Picker, K.-D. Klass & J. Colville. 2010. A jumping cockroach from South Africa, Saltoblattella montistabularis, gen. nov., spec. nov. (Blattodea: Blattellidae). Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny 68 (1): 53-69.

[F71] Fletcher, H. O. 1971. Catalogue of type specimens of fossils in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Australian Museum Memoir 13: 1-167.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[GR04] Grimaldi, D. A. & A. J. Ross. 2004. Raphidiomimula, an enigmatic new cockroach in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Burma) (Insecta: Blattodea: Raphidiomimidae). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 2: 101-104.

[V10] Vršanský, P. 2010. Cockroach as the earliest eusocial animal. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 84 (4): 793-808.

[VLR09] Vršanský, P., J.-H. Liang & D. Ren. 2009. Advanced morphology and behaviour of extinct earwig-like cockroaches (Blattida: Fuziidae fam. nov.). Geologica Carpathica 60 (6): 449-462.

[VVR02] Vršanský, P., V. N. Vishniakova & A. P. Rasnitsyn. 2002. Order Blattida Latreille, 1810. The cockroaches (=Blattodea Brunner von Wattenvill, 1882). In History of Insects (A. P. Rasnitsyn & D. L. J. Quicke, eds) pp. 263-270. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[Z02] Zherikhin, V. V. 2002. Ecological history of the terrestrial insects. In History of Insects (A. P. Rasnitsyn & D. L. J. Quicke, eds) pp. 331-388. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.