blattoid

B3L1A1T1T1O1I1D2
US/ˈblæ.tɔɪd/

noun

Any member of the Blattoidea superfamily of cockroaches and termites.

Scrabble 11

Meanings

nounblattoid (plural blattoids)

plural blattoids

  1. biologyAny member of the Blattoidea superfamily of cockroaches and termites.

    This result, however, is much younger than some “roachoid” fossils and clearly invalidates the hypothesis suggesting that winged “blattoids” would date back to the Devonian.

    2015 June 22, Frédéric Legendre, André Nel, Gavin J. Svenson, Tony Robillard, Roseli Pellens, Philippe Grandcolas, “Phylogeny of Dictyoptera: Dating the Origin of Cockroaches, Praying Mantises and Termites with Molecular Data and Controlled Fossil Evidence”, in PLoS One
    1 more example

    However, a subgroup analysis (by order) indicated that the DGC facilitated gaseous exchange in dipterans (0.43 ± 0.34; estimate ± 95% CI; p = 0.01), but not in blattoids (p = 0.89) or orthopterans (p = 0.57) (Figure 5a).

    2022 January 22, Seun O. Oladipupo, Alan E. Wilson, Xing Ping Hu, Arthur G. Appel, “Why Do Insects Close Their Spiracles? A Meta-Analytic Evaluation of the Adaptive Hypothesis of Discontinuous Gas Exchange in Insects”, in Insects
adjectiveblattoid (comparative more blattoid, superlative most blattoid)

comparative more blattoid · superlative most blattoid

  1. Relating to the Blattoidea, comprised of cockroaches and termites.

    The most parsimonious scenario of the origin of this pattern would be an ancient duplication of the ancestral FAD-A1 and subsequent conservation of its paralogous copy during diversification of blattoid cockroaches and termites.

    2023 April 12, Stanislav Macháček, Michal Tupec, Natan Horáček, Martina Halmová, Amit Roy, Aleš Machara, Pavlína Kyjaková, Ondřej Lukšan, Iva Pichová, Robert Hanus, “Evolution of Linoleic Acid Biosynthesis Paved the Way for Ecological Success of Termites”, in Molecular Biology and Evolution
    2 more examples

    This age is congruent with the presence of “blattoid” ootheca in the Late Carboniferous, suggesting that Dictyoptera with reduced ovipositors were already present at that time, coexisting with “roachoids” with long external ovipositors.

    2015 June 22, Frédéric Legendre, André Nel, Gavin J. Svenson, Tony Robillard, Roseli Pellens, Philippe Grandcolas, “Phylogeny of Dictyoptera: Dating the Origin of Cockroaches, Praying Mantises and Termites with Molecular Data and Controlled Fossil Evidence”, in PLoS One

    Within the animal kingdom, complex brains and high intelligence have evolved several to many times independently, e.g. among ecdysozoans in some groups of insects (e.g. blattoid, dipteran, hymenopteran taxa), among lophotrochozoans in octopodid molluscs, among vertebrates in teleosts (e.g. cichlids), corvid and psittacid birds, and cetaceans, elephants and primates.

    2015 December 19, Gerhard Roth, “Convergent evolution of complex brains and high intelligence”, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London

Origin

  1. Latinblatta“photophobic bug”
  2. translingualBlattoidea
  3. Englishblattoid

Borrowed from translingual Blattoidea, from the type genus of Blatta, from Latin blatta (“photophobic bug”). Further etymology unclear.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

blattoid. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blattoid

MLA

“blattoid.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blattoid. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blattoid,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blattoid.

Source: blattoid on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.