Nocticolidae Explained

Nocticolidae is a small family in the order Blattodea (cockroaches). It consists of only 32 known species in 9 genera. They are found in Africa, Asia and Australia. Most live in cave habitats, although a few are associated with termites. Cave adapted species are known from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber, making them the oldest extant cavernicolous organisms.^[1]

Genera

The family includes the following genera:

• Alluaudellina Chopard, 1932
• Cardacopsis Karny, 1924
• Cardacus Strand, 1928
• Metanocticola Roth, 1999
• Nocticola Bolívar, 1892
• Pholeosilpha Chopard, 1958
• Spelaeoblatta Bolívar, 1897
• Typhloblatta Chopard, 1924
• Typhloblattodes Chopard, 1946
• Crenocticola^[2] Li and Huang, 2019 Burmese amber, Cenomanian
• Mulleriblattina Sendi et al, 2020 Burmese amber, Cenomanian

References

• Blattodea Species File: Nocticolidae

Notes and References

1. Sendi. Hemen. Vršanský. Peter. Podstrelená. Lenka. Hinkelman. Jan. Kúdelová. Tatiana. Kúdela. Matúš. Vidlička. Ľubomír. Ren. Xiaoyin. Quicke. Donald L.J.. February 2020. Nocticolid cockroaches are the only known dinosaur age cave survivors. Gondwana Research. 82. en. 288–298. 10.1016/j.gr.2020.01.002.
2. Li. Xin-Ran. Huang. Diying. February 2020. A new mid-Cretaceous cockroach of stem Nocticolidae and reestimating the age of Corydioidea (Dictyoptera: Blattodea). Cretaceous Research. 106. 104202. 10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104202. 0195-6671.