European earwig

Forficula auricularia · The European earwig is a reddish-brown omnivorous insect with pincers on its abdomen, originally from Europe and western Asia and now living in North America and New Zealand too.

Also called Common earwig, Common European Earwig.

European earwig
Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
European earwig
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
European earwig
Photo: Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez, CC BY-SA 3.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderDermaptera
FamilyForficulidae
GenusForficula
SpeciesForficula auricularia

Where it lives

Native from Britain to western Asia and North Africa; introduced to the Americas.

Fun facts

  • The earwig is named for its hindwings, which look like human ears when unfolded.
  • Earwigs have wings but rarely use them, so they mostly travel by hitching rides on clothing, lumber, shrubs and even newspaper bundles.
  • Earwig mothers lay about 50 eggs in an underground nest and keep them clean by licking and grooming them to stop fungus growing.
  • Earwig mothers care for foreign eggs just as they do their own, even though they can tell them apart by a family-specific chemical scent.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).