THE PHYLOGENY OF COCKROACH FAMILIES - A CLADISTIC APPRAISAL OF MORPHOANATOMICAL DATA

Seventy-two morpho-anatomical characters were examined in 221 genera b elonging to the families Blattidae, Polyphagidae, Blattellidae, and Bl aberidae. They were cladistically analyzed and polarized using two man tids and two termites. As no autapomorphies of the family Blattellidae were found, the constituent subfamilies were used as terminal taxa to gether with other families. Three trees were found (CI = 0.81 and RI = 0.88, without autapomorphies) that differed only by the position of N yctiborinae relative to Blattellinae and Ectobiinae. The strict consen sus tree was [Blattidae [Polyphagidae [Anaplectinae [[Pseudophyllodrom iidae, Blaberidae] [Nyctiborinae, Blattellinae, Ectobiinae]]]]]. The m ain discrepancies with McKittrick's tree were the monophyly of Polypha gidae (instead of paraphyly) and that the Blaberidae is the sister-gro up of Pseudophyllodromiinae (instead of the sister-group of Blattellin ae, Ectobiinae, and Nyctiborinae). These results made it necessary to elevate the Anaplectinae and Pseudophyllodromiinae to familial status, and to give a new sense to the family Blattellidae, which includes on ly the subfamilies Blattellinae, Ectobiinae, and Nyctiborinae. This ph ylogeny was used to test current evolutionary hypotheses concerning so ciality and reproductive behaviour; many traits were assumed to be anc estral to all cockroaches (protozoan symbionts and familial life habit s) or preadaptive (progressing from advanced oviparity in Blattellidae to ovoviviparity in Blaberidae) that must actually be considered homo plasic.