Dictyoptera is an insect superorder that includes two extant orders of polyneopterous insects: the order Blattodea and the order Mantodea (mantises). All modern Dictyoptera have short ovipositors and typically lay oothecae. The oldest fossils of Dictyoptera from the Late Carboniferous, referred to as "roachoids" have long ovipositors and did not lay oothecae. The oldest modern oothecae-laying dictyopterans date to the Late Triassic.

Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetic and molecular evidence suggests they evolved from within the cockroach lineage, cladistically making them cockroaches as well. The Blattodea and the mantis are now all considered part of the superorder Dictyoptera. Blattodea includes approximately 4,400 species of cockroach in almost 500 genera, and about 3,000 species of termite in around 300 genera.