365 Urban Species. #191: European Earwig

[urbpan]

Photo by cottonmanifesto. Location: In my apartment, Brookline Massachusetts.

Urban species #191: European earwig Forficula auricularia

There are a few creatures, that with their very appearance, inspire revulsion in those who profess to love animals. Among these are the cockroach, the house centipede, and the earwig. All have in common a flattened body shape, nocturnal habits, and (combining these attributes into one) a tendency to scuttle rapidly when disturbed into the light. The earwig adds to these a menacing pair of cerci, anatomical features on the abdomen, that on other insects (cockroaches, especially) are organs of touch, telling the animal to run fast when they feel contact. On earwigs they are the diagnostic feature of the organism, from the layperson's point of view: large crablike pincers--surely designed to give a painful pinch. Except that they don't--at least, I haven't found any reliable reports that they do. Some larger species of earwigs may possess the strength to jab an intruding finger, but the North American varieties, and the European species that represents the dominant urban earwigs among us, does not. Unscientific lab tests, wherein this investigator repeatedly molested European earwigs with a thumb and forefinger--pinching the pinchered insect--resulted in no unpleasant sensations.

Likewise, the sordid tales of earwigs invading the aural canals of sleeping human victims (and then laying hundreds of eggs which hatch, creating an army of insects which eat the victim's brain, in the worst tales) seem to be apocryphal. At least, earwigs are no more likely to seek refuge in the ear than any other crack-dwelling nocturnal bug, such as those listed above. Perhaps my brother will regale us with his telling of the beetle that invaded his most personal ear-space, a Richard Burton-esque story, both true and horrible (the British explorer was rendered deaf in one ear, after dealing with an invading beetle with a rather too aggressive treatment).

Earwigs are omnivorous animals, feeding on detritus and the like. Most of the time they go about their business out of doors, gleaning plants for edible morsels. In the summer many earwigs find their way into houses and other buildings, bringing unnecessary terror and disgust to the human occupants of these places. European earwigs were long involved in such incursions and continued the habit when European humans spread their version of indoors to far-flung places.

Many thanks to the entomological community behind the scenes at this blog, who not only helped me identify the earwig from these photographs, but identified it as a youngster, probably on it's second-to-last molt. Earwigs do not metamorphose, but change from nymphal forms (sexually immature forms) that differ slightly from adults (fewer antennal segments, smaller wing buds) into mature forms.

badnoodles, and alsonutmeg and ankhanu I shout out to you.

Comments

[grrlpup]

While camping, I got a small gnat or something in my ear and couldn't get it out. It was a truly crazy-making sensation. I tried the trick I'd read about in a book of brain-teasers-- holding a flashlight to my ear so that, attracted to the light, it would find its way out. No luck. I finally got it out by lying on my side and pouring water in my ear, which presumably floated it out. Just a tip in case this happens to your other readers. :)

[wandererrob.livejournal.com]

*shudders*

I can't even imagine the sensation!

[klandaghicat.livejournal.com]

Wow. I am now so relieved. I had one in the sink yesterday, and thought of you. I have hated these things forever, and now Know The Truth. Much like the Crane Fly.
Ya gotta admit, though. They are oogie.

Also, finally handled a flat-backed millipede this weekend. The yellow spots always gave me concern. It behaved as any other innocuous millipede, and was quite pleasant. I was tempted to "collect" it, but was just too lazy.

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

Strictly speaking, they do undergo metamorphosis, which just means "a change in body". Among insects, there are four types of metamorphosis.

1. Ametabolous. This type only occurs in the most primitive insect orders: Protura, Collembolan, Diplura, Microcoryphia, and Thysanura. Immatures are difficult to impossible to tell from adult forms.

2. Hemimetabolous. In this form of metamorphosis, the naiads are aquatic and breathe via gills. Adults are free living. There is no intermediate between the naiad and the adult. Examples include Ephemeroptera, Odonata, and Plecoptera.

3. Paurometabolous or "gradual metamorphosis", the nymphs are very similar looking to the adults and share the same habitats. The presence of adult features such as functional wings and genitalia can be used to differentiate nymphs from adults. Examples include Orthoptera, Phasmida, Mantodea, Isoptera, Hemiptera, and Homoptera.

4. Holometabolous or "complete metamorphosis". This is the classic form of metamorphosis, with four distinct life stages: egg, larva, pupa, adult. Larva and adults look very different, may occupy different habitats and have different feeding habits. This type includes the most common and successful insect groups: Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera.

Earwigs, with their gradual development, exhibit paurometabolous metamorphosis.

Oh, and moths are notorious for getting into ears, though aural invasion is hardly the scariest or most disgusting way to get bugs inside your body. (See: myiasis)

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

Oooookay. Could you toss us poor, less scientific types a few common names? I figured out the fourth example includes butterflies and moths, but I'm stymied on the rest.

Also, FYI, i got all excited this weekend because I thought I saw a bunch of Shasta Blues, an endemic to the Spring Mountain range but my expert out here informs me that based on the location I was at, it's unlikely and I probably just saw a similar blue.

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

Sure, I got carried away with the Latin.

1. Ametabolous: Proturans, springtails, jumping bristletails, silverfish & firebrats.

2.) Hemimetabolous: Mayflies, damselflies, dragonflies, and stoneflies.

3.) Paurometabolous: Crickets, grasshoppers, roaches, mantises, walkingsticks, termites, lice, cicadas, planthoppers, leafhoppers, aphids, whiteflies, and all the true bugs.

4.) Holometabolous: Beetles, Flies, Wasps, Bees, Ants, Moths, Butterflies, Fleas, Scorpionflies, and Caddisflies.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks. That's much better. I feel smarter already.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

so wait, according the this, humans go through paurometabolous metamorphosis?

[miz-geek.livejournal.com]

Unscientific lab tests, wherein this investigator repeatedly molested European earwigs with a thumb and forefinger--pinching the pinchered insect--resulted in no unpleasant sensations.

You crack me up!

And earwigs just look slimy. Yecch.

[drocera.livejournal.com]

I've been pinched by an earwig before (while holding it and trying to feed it to a chicken)! It didnt really hurt, it just creeped me out and caused me to scream and fling the offending creature.

[ndozo.livejournal.com]

I was trying to see if the one I found last night would pinch a paper towel I was tickling its "cerci" (my new word of the day!) with, but it just ran away and hid. I always figured those pinchy looking things were meant to look like antennae to trick predators into going after the wrong end... if there are any predators that would want to eat an earwig.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

But if I tell that story, what will I talk to all your readers about if they ever encounter me drunk at a pirate themed bar?

Ah well, if I must, I must. I, uh, usually sleep au naturale and have for a long time. I believe I was still in High School when a small beetle, maybe half an inch long crawled into my ear as I was settling down to sleep. It was just at that tipping point of sleep, the point where you sometimes wake with a start from a falling sensation. Somehow, I knew exactly what had happened, none the less. I bolted out of my bedroom screaming. This woke up the entire household who stepped out into the hall to see the spectacle of me screaming at the top of my lungs, while banging my head against the wall. Naked. Eventually, I figured out the dumping water in my ear and then tilting my head the other way until the little vermin fell out, and down the sink. I'm not sure if my mother ever truly believed I had had a bug in my ear, but it is to their great credit that they didn't ship me off to the Casa del Whacko the next morning.

[ndozo.livejournal.com]

I lol'd.

[bezigebij.livejournal.com]

There are few insects that wig me out like earwigs. I think this is due to my mother telling me the ear creeping / egg laying stories as a kid and I just can't shake the association.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

1. I love earwigs, they're cute.

2. YOU KNEW THE BURTON STORY!!!!!! omg!!!

He's been my hero for many many years - John and I once mounted an expeditipon to find his mausoleum, and succeeded - and you've heard of him!

Your awesomeness level just went stratospheric!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

My awesomeness must be mitigated by the fact that I know the Burton story because of my tenure as a cinema usher. I was working when "

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My awesomeness must be mitigated by the fact that I know the Burton story because of my tenure as a cinema usher. I was working when "<A href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100196/"Mountains of the Moon</a>" came out. Of course, I later looked up and verified the story--but it's only fair to admit the maroon polyester butter-stained truth.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Still awesome!

I ought to make myself a Burton icon. Usually when I mention him people assume I mean the Welsh actor.

His mausoleum is utterly amazing. It looks like a Bedouin tent in stone, and there's a window in the back where you canlook in and see the coffins. John and I got accidentally locked into the cemetery and had to be let out by a very disapproving priest who looked as though he was sure we were in there doing something Very Bad.

[dragonwrites.livejournal.com]

thanks for "cerci"! can't wait to work that one into casual conversation. good word.

i seem to have a memory of getting pinched by an earwig as a teenager. not bad. just pinchy. i'm the kind of person who usually prefers to catch a creature and release it outside if it is freaking me out inside. too my shame (and my karma), i've flushed a lot of these guys down the toilet. but that's better than my kneejerk cockroach response, which, for many years, was to smash it with a shoe. centipedes are tolerable. i admire the way they move. disgustingly hypnotic. but i still don't want them in my house.

like you said, i love all creatures.

[harry-rar.livejournal.com]

The best thing about earwigs is that they *can* fly - they have quite large wings all origamied up inside those tiny wing cases - but they just don't. Or at least in Britain the Lesser Earwig is occasionally seen flying, but the common earwig hasn't been observed flying since about 1926.

[lizling.livejournal.com]

Assuming it was from the pinchers, last weekend my boyfriend took a sip of water from the straw in his big travel cup and felt a jolt of pain on his tongue. He spit the water out to find an earwig had been in his mouthful of water. Yuck.

[moonacidyue.livejournal.com]

Ew ew ew. I hate these these things. My family has called them "pincher bugs" for as long as i've been alive, but I guess it's not so accurate! Still though, my cousin can relive the horror of encountering one in his boxer shorts, which gives me the shivers to think about. (and so does the bug.)

[vodkanoodles.livejournal.com]

wow!
you know, i've often wondered what an "earwig" was... we just don't get them in Australia

thankee so much!

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

yes we do! i see them a couple of times a week!