Roach or Beetle?

Bay City, United States

So at our last apartment we had a bunch of little bugs running around and I was terrified they were cockroaches. Our landlord assured us they were some kind of beetle and left it at that. Never saw them get any bigger so I took their word for it. We moved, and again, are seeing these small bugs (but not as bad as before so again, wasn't too concerned). Today, however, one of these falls out of some clothes I was folding in our bedroom. Obviously it's a little squished, but it's much bigger than the other bugs and I'm again concerned it's a roach. After doing some digging online, it sure as hell looks like a roach but doesn't match all of the descriptions I've read online. For instance, the back is kind of a hard shell covering and the wings are underneath. It looks very much like those little bugs I mentioned, but bigger (about an inch or just under). But damn if it doesn't look like a roach to me. But my landlord's insistence the small ones were beetles (and we are in a fairly wooded area) has me doubting myself. From the top view, when it's not squished, it doesn't taper like the underside of the body does. It's more a long rounded rectangular shape. Only the body under the wings tapers like roaches do.

The little ones we only see one at a time now, once in a while, ranging from the kitchen to the bathroom to really anywhere in the house. They don't seem to be congregating anywhere. I've looked in the cupboards, under the stove and in our extra bathtub, and dark spaces with a flashlight and haven't spooked any more of these big ones into moving and haven't seen any dead ones. Nor have we noticed any when turning lights on at night. What gives?

Location: mid-Michigan, end of June.

Thumbnail by vm24 Thumbnail by vm24
Minot, ND

This is a beetle in the family Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles). It might be in the genus Tenbrio, some of which can be minor pantry pests - http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/mealworms

Bay City, United States

Phew. For whatever reason beetles don't give me as much concern as roaches. But I'm not wrong, right? This looks a lot like a roach to me. Maybe a German roach? Is there some distinct feature that sets them apart?

My wife said she did see one of the small ones (much, much smaller, but long and rounded-rectangular like this) in our pancake mix the other day, forcing us to get some plastic containers for storage.

Minot, ND

Compare your specimen with this image of a German cockroach - https://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/images/germanroachblattellagermanica.jpg
Also, can you post images of the other critter(s) you found in the pancake mix?

Bay City, United States

No, unfortunately I don't have one. Looked very similar to that, but much smaller.

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