Within the colony, termites have a caste system, with a pair of mature reproductives, the king and the queen, and numerous sterile workers and soldiers.

Most of these are omnivores or detritivores and live in a range of habitats such as among leaf litter, in rotting wood, in thick vegetation, in crevices, in cavities beneath bark, under logs and among debris.

[12] A small number of species have taken to living in close proximity to humans in buildings, have been transported around the world by them, and are regarded as pests.

An isolated cockroach nymph may grow at less than half the rate of grouped individuals, and has a poorer life expectancy.

Adult termite workers forage and bring food back to the nest where they pass it to the reproductives and young either by mouth or by anus, providing the whole of their nutritional needs in this manner.

Young cockroaches are ineffective foragers, seldom straying from their hiding places, and obtain much of their nourishment from eating the fecal pellets of larger individuals.

Modern crown group cockroaches radiated from them by the middle of the Mesozoic,[21] with the first appearance of the extant family Corydiidae during the Late Jurassic.

They are not considered eusocial because their populations are not divided into different caste systems; however, they are still social creatures and can live in groups with over a million individuals.

[22] The cockroach is flattened dorsolaterally and is roughly oval with a shield-like plate, the pronotum, covering its thorax and posterior region of the head.

Cockroaches are hemimetabolous; there is no pupal stage and the nymphs resemble the adults apart from their size and the absence of wings.

The main factors affecting the duration of the nymph stage are seasonal differences, and the amount of nutrients received in the diet.

Cockroaches that have been isolated in a lab setting have shown extreme behavioral effects and are less stimulated by these hydrocarbons and pheromones, possibly suggesting a group environment is required for development of these communication skills.

The majority of termite populations consist of the worker caste, which are responsible for foraging, nest building, grooming, and brood care.

Soldiers have highly developed mandibles as well as many exocrine glands that can secrete multiple defensive substances harmful to predators.

Aerial nests are connected to the ground by enclosed passageways; the soft-bodied, blind workers of most species live permanently in their protected environments and do not venture into the open air.

[28] Trinervitermes trinervoides is an exception to this, with workers foraging in small groups on the surface at night, secreting noxious terpenes to deter predators.