cockroaches are popularly thought to be an ancient order of insects, with their origins in the carboniferous. however, since the middle of the 20th century it has been known that the primitive cockroach insects found fossilized in palaeozoic strata are the forerunners not only of modern cockroaches but also of mantises and termites. the origin of these groups from a blattopteran stock are now generally thought to be in the early jurassic; the earliest modern cockroach found is from the cretaceous. thus the “palaeozoic cockroaches” are not cockroaches per se, but a paraphyletic assemblage of primitive relatives.