Are there different types of cockroaches?

Yes! About 4,500 species have names, but there may be more than 5,000 kinds we've yet to discover. Fortunately, less than 100 live near humans—less than 1% are pests. The German and American cockroaches are the most common infesters. All cockroaches grow by gradual metamorphosis, meaning the babies are small, wingless versions of the adults. If you see lots of different sizes, you are probably just seeing different ages of the same kind of insect. See IPM in Multifamily Housing Training cockroach presentation for more information. Proper identification is a key step in integrated pest management.