EarwigInteresting facts and information

• Caring mothers - Female earwigs guard and clean their eggs and protect the newly hatched nymphs, which is unusual among insects.
• Harmless to people - Earwigs can give a small pinch with their pincers, but they have no venom and do not seek out human ears.
• Folded wings - The European earwig has large hindwings folded many times under its short forewings, but it is much more often seen walking than flying.
• Different pincers - Males usually have strongly curved pincers, while females have straighter ones.
• Winter shelters - In cold regions, earwigs spend the winter in sheltered places, such as burrows in the soil.

• Forficula auricularia is a familiar earwig originally from Europe that has been introduced to many other parts of the world, including North America, Australia and New Zealand.
• Male pincer size varies a lot between individuals; males with long pincers often win more contests over females.
• Some other earwig species are much larger: the Australian Titanolabis colossea can reach about 5 cm, and the Saint Helena giant earwig, now extinct, was up to about 8 cm long.
• Temperate populations overwinter in sheltered sites, often with the female guarding her eggs in a burrow.
• Defensive secretions can produce an unpleasant smell, helping discourage predators.

Earwigs are small insects with long, flat bodies. Their most distinctive feature is the pair of pincers, or cerci, at the end of the abdomen, used in defence, handling prey and mating.

Key physical adaptations

• Flattened, elongated body: allows them to squeeze under bark and into narrow cracks.
• Distinctive pincers: usually strongly curved in adult males and straighter in females.
• Long antennae: help them feel their way and find food in the dark.
• Folded wings: thin hindwings are folded like a fan and then folded again, to fit under short, hard forewings.
• Brown colouring: blends with soil, bark and leaf litter.

Differences between sexes

Earwigs are mainly nocturnal and hide by day in damp, dark places. Many may share the same shelter, but they do not form organised colonies like ants or bees.

Daily life

• By day they hide under stones, leaves and bark or inside cracks.
• At night they come out to look for food.
• Many earwigs can gather in the same hiding place, attracted by each other's scent.

Communication and defence

• Chemical signals help earwigs gather together and find mates.
• They raise and use their pincers to defend themselves.
• Glands on the abdomen can release a smelly liquid that deters predators.

Survival strategies

• Hiding among leaves, in soil and in sheltered cracks.
• Staying in damp places to avoid drying out.
• Spending the winter underground or in other sheltered places.

There are about 2,000 species of earwigs, found on every continent except Antarctica. The European earwig is native to Europe, western Asia and North Africa and has been introduced to many other regions.

Distribution context

Habitat types

• Woodland and grassland: plants and leaf litter provide hiding places.
• Gardens and farms: soil and plants offer food and shelter.
• Damp places: earwigs need humid shelters and avoid dry conditions.
• Cracks and man-made shelters: they hide under pots and stones and sometimes enter houses.

Environmental change

• Gardens and towns: offer many hiding places, and earwigs are common in them.
• Pesticides: can reduce earwig numbers along with other insects.
• Climate: temperature and moisture affect their development and where they can live.

Earwigs are omnivores that eat both plants and small animals, as well as dead and decaying matter.

What do earwigs eat?

Feeding methods

• Hunting: they catch small invertebrates, sometimes holding them with their pincers.
• Scavenging: they eat dead and damaged organic matter.
• Eating plants: where earwigs are numerous, they can damage flowers such as dahlias, seedlings and soft fruit.

Earwigs develop by incomplete metamorphosis: from egg, through several nymph stages, to adult, without a pupa. The care given by the mother is unusual among insects.

Mating season

• In the European earwig, mating usually takes place in autumn, and the female lays her eggs in a burrow in winter.
• Males use their pincers in contests and courtship.
• A female usually lays a few dozen eggs and may lay a second, smaller batch in spring.

Developmental stages

Maternal behaviour

• The female licks and turns her eggs, which helps protect them from mould.
• After hatching, she protects the young nymphs and may feed them with regurgitated food.
• After a few weeks, the nymphs leave the nest and live on their own.

Origin of the name

• The English name comes from Old English ēarwicga, "ear insect", from an old belief that earwigs crawl into people's ears. Earwigs do not seek out human ears.
• In the scientific name, Forficula means "small scissors", after the pincers, and auricularia means "of the ear".

Taxonomic classification

Evolution and fossils

• Earwigs have an ancient fossil history; early relatives of earwigs are known from the Jurassic period.
• The order name Dermaptera means "skin wings", referring to their leathery forewings.

The best-known belief about earwigs is that they crawl into people's ears. It appears in the earwig's name in many languages.

Myths and beliefs

• The ear myth: old stories say that earwigs crawl into ears, even into the brain, to lay eggs. This is not true, although any small insect can occasionally crawl into an ear by accident.
• Names in other languages: the French perce-oreille ("ear piercer"), the German Ohrwurm ("ear worm") and the Romanian urechelniță all refer to the ear.
• "Earworm": the German word Ohrwurm also means a catchy tune that gets stuck in your head, which gave English the word "earworm".

The European earwig is widespread and common and is not threatened. Some other earwig species are rare, and the Saint Helena giant earwig was declared extinct in 2014.

Main pressures

• Pesticides: insecticides can harm earwigs and other non-target animals.
• Habitat change: removing leaf litter, bark and stones takes away their shelter.
• Introduced predators: on islands such as Saint Helena, introduced mice, rats and centipedes, together with habitat loss, are thought to have contributed to the giant earwig's extinction.

Ecological benefits

• Pest control: eating aphids and other small insects helps control some pests, especially in orchards.
• Decomposition: by eating dead plant matter, earwigs help recycle nutrients.

Supporting useful garden wildlife

• Avoid unnecessary pesticides where earwigs help control pests.
• Provide shelters, such as pots filled with straw in fruit trees, which gardeners use to attract earwigs that eat aphids.
• Check the damage before treating earwigs as pests; in many gardens they do more good than harm.

Their pincers and unusual name make earwigs familiar and slightly feared insects.

Books and films

• "Earwig and the Witch" - A children's book by Diana Wynne Jones (2011), made into a Studio Ghibli film in 2020; the heroine is a girl called Earwig.
• Horror stories - The old ear myth has inspired several horror tales, including an episode of the American television series "Night Gallery".

Public perceptions

• A mixed garden reputation: some gardeners value earwigs as predators of aphids, while others dislike them for damaging flowers and fruit.