There only 6 families of cockroaches found worldwide, consisting of 4000 species. Australia has representatives of 5 of these families but with only 428 species present. Half of all the cockroaches in Australia can be found in the Blattidae family which includes both the native and introduced species. Follow the links below to find out more about the families of cockroaches. Those in bold represent the cockroach families present in Australia.

For more cockroach species visit the Australian Insect Common Names website