Dictyoptera

The use of the term Dictyoptera has changed over the years, and while largely out of use for much of the last century, it is becoming more widely used. It has usually been considered a superorder, with Isoptera, Blattodea and Mantodea being its three orders. In some classifications, however, Dictyoptera is shifted to order status and in others the order Isoptera has been subsumed under Blattodea while retaining Dictyoptera as a superorder. Regardless, in all classifications the constituent groups are the same, just treated at different rank. Termites and cockroaches are very closely related, with ecological and molecular data pointing to a relationship with the cockroach genus Cryptocercus.[3][4]

According to genetic evidence, the closest living relatives of the Dictyoptera are the phasmids and the enigmatic order Notoptera. If the Dictyoptera are considered a superorder these other orders might be included in it.[5]

Evolutionary relationships based on Eggleton, Beccaloni & Inward 2007 and modified by Evangelista et al. 2019, are shown in the cladogram:[6][7] The cockroach families Anaplectidae, Lamproblattidae, and Tryonicidae are not shown but are placed within the superfamily Blattoidea. The cockroach families Corydiidae and Ectobiidae were previously known as the Polyphagidae and Blattellidae.[8] The cladogram also shows the family Alienopteridae (originally assigned to its own order "Alienoptera") as sister to Mantodea, but it was subsequently reassigned to the extinct Blattodea superfamily Umenocoleoidea by Vršanský et al..[9]

Deimatic behaviour of the mantis Oxyopsis sp.

• Inward, Daegan; Beccaloni, George; Eggleton, Paul (22 June 2007). "Death of an order: a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study confirms that termites are eusocial cockroaches". Biology Letters. 3 (3): 331–335. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0102. PMC 2464702. PMID 17412673.