Superkingdom Eukaryota
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Superclass Hexapoda
Class Insecta
Subclass Pterygota
Series Neoptera
Order Blattodea
Common name(s): Blattaria, cockroach
Description: Small to large in size, dorsoventrally flattened. Hypognathous. Compound eyes well developed (except in cave dwellers). Prothorax large and shield-like (in some cases covers the head). Fore wings form a leathery tegmia to protect the large hind wings. Large anal lobe on hind wing. Coxae are large and abut ventrally. Cerci are usually multi-segmented. Immature nymph stages are like small adults.
Fun facts: Everyone knows how fun cockroaches are. There are over 3500 species in at least eight families globally. Females produce a purse-shaped egg sac called an oötheca. The oötheca can be carried externally by the female or left alone. The cosmopolitan roach that most people visualise is due to some 30 species, including Periplaneta americana (the American cockroach), B. germanica (the German cockroach) and B. orientalis (the Oriental cockroach). These nocturnal, malodourus, disease-carrying peridomestic roaches are unrepresentative of the larger order, which are mostly tropical, diurnal and sometimes arboreal. Cockroaches can be solitary or gregarious.
Blattodea are the sister group of Mantodea.
sourced, in part, by The Insects: An outline of entomology, second ed. Gullan, P.J. and P.S. Cranston. Blackwell Science, Great Britain, 2000.