Blattodea Species File Online

George Beccaloni, Author,    The Natural History Museum, London David C. Eades, Database Developer,    Illinois Natural History Survey Acknowledgements   With the cooperation of The Orthopterists' Society

Periplaneta americana

Ectobius lapponicus

The Blattodea Species File (BSF) is a database of the scientific names of the world's cockroaches (order Blattodea or Blattaria), excluding fossil species and termites. Note that until recently termites were treated as a separate order, Isoptera, but recent work confirms that they are in fact cockroaches.

The BSF includes c. 6,700 scientific names (all ranks, valid and not valid) and c. 4,600 valid species are recognised. Images of museum specimens (especially types), plus pictures of living cockroaches are slowly being added.

NOTE: The spellings of the scientific names in the BSF, plus the names of their authors and the year of their description are now more accurate than in the world catalogue of cockroaches by Princis published between 1962 and 1971. In addition the synonomy and higher classification of most taxa is up-to-date, unlike Princis' catalogue. Having said this, there are still likely to be errors, so if you find any please inform George.

To see information contained in the database, use the links across the top of the page.  Click on Search to find a specific taxon or other kinds of information.  Clicking on Taxa will make the order Blattodea your current taxon unless you have previously moved to a different taxon in this session.

This website and database use Species File Software.  Information about the design and use of SFS may be found on a separate website.

Other Places to Start

• Getting started
• User interface
• Introduction to the BSF
• Editorial policy
• Cockroaches: An amazing diversity
• Links to other websites
• About the author
• Duplicate database to practice editing

Please send comments and questions about the database and its development to George Beccaloni (send mail).  When referencing this website, please use the following format:  Beccaloni, G. W. 2007. Blattodea Species File Online. Version 5.0/5.0. World Wide Web electronic publication. <http://Blattodea.SpeciesFile.org> [accessed 20 May 2008*].  * Please give the precise date you used the BSF.  Use http://Blattodea.SpeciesFile.org to bookmark this website.