2007/04/05 by Daegan Inward, George Beccaloni, Paul Eggleton · 4 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Plant and animal studies #Fossil Insects in Amber #Eusociality #Biology #Cockroach #Phylogenetic tree #Evolutionary biology #Zoology #Blattidae #Ecology #Hymenoptera #Dictyoptera #Genetics #Gene
paper · doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0102
openalex publication_date 2007/04/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Termites are instantly recognizable mound-builders and house-eaters: their complex social lifestyles have made them incredibly successful throughout the tropics. Although known as 'white ants', they are not ants and their relationships with other insects remain unclear. Our molecular phylogenetic analyses, the most comprehensive yet attempted, show that termites are social cockroaches, no longer meriting being classified as a separate order (Isoptera) from the cockroaches (Blattodea). Instead, we propose that they should be treated as a family (Termitidae) of cockroaches. It is surprising to find that a group of wood-feeding cockroaches has evolved full sociality, as other ecologically dominant fully social insects (e.g. ants, social bees and social wasps) have evolved from solitary predatory wasps.