Blattaria

Wood roaches Cryptocercus, copyright David R. Maddison.

Belongs within: Blattoidea.
Contains: Blaberidae, Blattellidae, Polyzosteriinae, Pseudomopinae.

The Blattaria include the crown-group cockroaches, with some studies regarding the termites as derived from within this clade. They are characterised by the production of eggs contained within a hard ootheca that is deposited free on the ground. Members of the Blattaria include the wood roaches Cryptocercus of North America and Asia, which possess wood-digesting gut bacteria and a subsocial lifestyle. The Blattidae, which include some of the more economically significant large cockroaches, possess symmetrical styles in the males and a bivalvular subgenital plate in the females (Roth 1991).

Synapomorphies (from Vršanský 2010): Outer ovipositor valves completely internal, eggs laid in ootheca of cockroach type; central ocellus reduced.

<==Blattaria GE05
    |  i. s.: Loboptera decipiens BM76
    |         Shelfordella tartara BM76
    |         Latiblatella rehni BM76
    |         Eurycotis floridana BM76
    |         Tryonicus R96 [Tryonicidae BP10, Tryonicinae]
    |           `--T. parvus R96
    |--Cryptocercus Scudder 1862 [Cryptocercidae] V10
    |    |--C. clevelandi GE05
    |    |--C. darwini GE05
    |    |--C. garciai GE05
    |    |--C. primarius GE05
    |    |--C. punctulatus GE05
    |    |--C. relictus GE05
    |    `--C. wrighti GE05
    `--+--+--Lamproblatta GE05 [Lamproblattidae, Lamproblattinae]
       |  `--Polyphagidae V10
       |       |  i. s.: Vitisma rasnitsyni VVR02
       |       |         Therea GE05
       |       |         Arenivaga C90
       |       |           |--A. apacha WL09
       |       |           |--A. grata C90
       |       |           `--A. investigata C90
       |       |         Eremoblatta subdiaphana C90
       |       |         Tivia australica M70
       |       |         Austropolyphaga R91
       |       |         Polyphagoides R91
       |       |--Euthyrrhaphinae VVR02
       |       `--Lantindiinae VVR02
       `--+--Blaberoidea R96
          |    |--Blaberidae GE05
          |    |--Blattellidae GE05
          |    `--Nocticola [Nocticolidae] R96
          |         |--N. australiensis R91
          |         |--N. flabella Roth 1991 BP10
          |         `--N. termitophila V10
          `--Blattidae GE05
               |  i. s.: Stantoniella GE05
               |         Parcoblatta C90
               |           |--P. desertae C90
               |           |--P. pensylvanica BM76
               |           |--P. uhleriana BM76
               |           `--P. virginica BM76
               |         Stylopyga orientalis B01
               |         Celatoblatta R91
               |--Macrocerca [Macrocercinae] R96
               |--Polyzosteriinae R96
               |--Pseudomopinae R18
               |--Corydiinae R18
               |    |--Latindia R15
               |    |    |--L. argentina Rehn 1915 R15
               |    |    `--L. pusilla R15
               |    `--Melestora R18
               |         |--M. adspersipennis R18
               |         |--M. fulvella R18
               |         |--M. fuscella R18
               |         `--M. minutissima Rehn 1918 R18
               `--Blattinae R96
                    |--Austrostylopyga R96
                    |--Neostylopyga rhombifolia R91
                    |--Periplaneta R18
                    |    |--P. americana (Linnaeus 1758) [=Blatta americana] R18
                    |    |--P. australasiae (Fabricius 1775) [=Blatta australasiae] R18
                    |    |--P. brunnea [incl. P. ignota] M70
                    |    |--P. fuliginosa BM76
                    |    `--P. picea BM76
                    `--Blatta Linnaeus 1758 L58
                         |--B. aegyptiaca Linnaeus 1758 L58
                         |--B. africana Linnaeus 1758 L58
                         |--B. cincticollis Lucas 1847 E12
                         |--B. gigantea Linnaeus 1758 L58
                         |--B. lapponica Linnaeus 1758 L58
                         |--B. nivea Linnaeus 1758 L58
                         |--B. oblongata Linnaeus 1758 L58
                         |--B. orientalis Linnaeus 1758 L58
                         `--B. surinamensis Linnaeus 1758 L58

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BM76] Bohart, R. M., & A. S. Menke. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[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.

[B01] Bolivar, I. 1901. Orthopterák [Orthoptères]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 223–243. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[C90] Crawford, C. S. 1990. Scorpiones, Solifugae, and associated desert taxa. In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 421–475. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[E12] Evenhuis, N. L. 2012. Publication and dating of the Exploration Scientifique de l'Algérie: Histoire Naturelle des Animaux Articulés (1846–1849) by Pierre Hippolyte Lucas. Zootaxa 3448: 1–61.

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

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[M70] Mackerras, M. J. 1970. Blattodea (cockroaches). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 262–274. Melbourne University Press.

[R15] Rehn, J. A. G. 1915. A further contribution to the knowledge of the Orthoptera of Argentina. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 67 (2): 270–292.

[R18] Rehn, J. A. G. 1918. On a collection of Orthoptera from the State of Pará, Brazil. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 70: 144–236, pls 1–2.

[R96] Rentz, D. 1996. Grasshopper Country: The abundant orthopteroid insects of Australia. University of New South Wales Press: Sydney.

[R91] Roth, L. M. 1991. Blatttodea. Blattaria (cockroaches). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 320–329. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

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

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

[WL09] Walter, D. E., E. E. Lindquist, I. M. Smith, D. R. Cook & G. W. Krantz. 2009. Order Trombidiformes. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3^rd ed. pp. 233–420. Texas Tech University Press.

Last updated: 19 October 2017.