Earwig
| Earwigs Temporal range: 208–0 Ma Late Triassic to Recent |
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| Female common earwig, Forficula auricularia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Hexapoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: |
Dermaptera De Geer, 1773 |
| Suborders | |
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Earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera and are found on all continents except Antarctica. With about 2,000 species in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cerci, a pair of forceps-like pincers on their abdomen, and membranous wings folded underneath short , hence the scientific order name, "skin wings". Some groups are tiny parasites on mammals and lack the typical pincers. Earwigs rarely use their flying ability.
Earwigs are mostly nocturnal and often hide in small, moist crevices during the day, and are active at night, feeding on a wide variety of insects and plants. Damage to foliage, flowers, and various crops is commonly blamed on earwigs, especially the common earwig Forficula auricularia.
Earwigs have five molts in the year before they become adults. Many earwig species display maternal care, which is uncommon among insects. Female earwigs may care for their eggs, and even after they have hatched as nymphs will continue to watch over offspring until their second molt. As the nymphs molt, sexual dimorphism such as differences in pincer shapes begins to show.
Some earwig specimen fossils are in the extinct suborders Archidermaptera or Eodermaptera, the former dating to the Late Triassic and the latter to the Middle Jurassic. Many orders of insect have been theorized to be closely related to earwigs, though the icebugs of Grylloblattaria are most likely.
The scientific name for the order, "Dermaptera", is Greek in origin, stemming from the words derma, meaning skin, and pteron (plural ptera), wing. It was coined by Charles De Geer in 1773. The common term, earwig, is derived from the Old English ēare, which means "ear", and wicga, which means "insect", or literally, "beetle". Entomologists suggest that the origin of the name is a reference to the appearance of the hindwings, which are unique and distinctive among insects, and resemble a human ear when unfolded. The name is more popularly thought to be related to the old wives' tale that earwigs burrowed into the brains of humans through the ear and laid their eggs there. Earwigs are not known to purposefully climb into external ear canals, but there have been anecdotal reports of earwigs being found in the ear.
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Wikipedia