What likely characterized the common ancestor shared by roaches and termites in the late Paleozoic Era?
Answer
A wood-chewing, terrestrial insect
The common ancestor shared by both cockroaches and termites is hypothesized to have been a terrestrial insect adapted to chewing wood.

Related Questions
To which order do cockroaches belong?Approximately how long ago do the earliest known cockroach lineage fossils date?What type of development characterizes insects in the superorder *Exopterygota*, to which cockroaches belong?Modern phylogenetic studies show that termites (*Isoptera*) are nested within which group?What likely characterized the common ancestor shared by roaches and termites in the late Paleozoic Era?How many major mass extinction events have cockroaches reportedly survived throughout their history?What trait is cited as key to the deep, generalized evolutionary success of the basic cockroach body plan?What specific physical feature is often used to identify a cockroach in the fossil record, matching modern specimens?What contrast exists between the deep evolutionary success of *Blattodea* and the success of the German cockroach?What was the likely food source for early cockroach forms surviving in Carboniferous forests?Where is the German cockroach species believed to have geographically originated?