Earwig

The European earwig, Forficula auricularia, belongs to the order Dermaptera, a distinctive insect group defined by the pincer-like cerci at the end of the abdomen. Native to Europe and parts of Asia, it has since spread to many temperate regions worldwide.

This insect is notable among insects for exhibiting a degree of maternal care rare in its class: females guard their eggs and newly hatched nymphs in a protected chamber. Its short, leathery forewings covering delicate hindwings, along with its signature pincers, make it one of the more instantly recognizable garden insects.

Ecologically, earwigs are omnivorous generalists that contribute to breaking down decaying plant matter while also preying on small soft-bodied insects, giving them a mixed role as both decomposer and minor predator.

• Elongated, flattened, reddish-brown to dark brown body.
• Prominent pair of curved, forceps-like cerci at the abdomen tip, more curved in males and straighter in females.
• Short, leathery forewings that only partially cover a fan-folded pair of membranous hindwings, rarely used for flight.
• Long, thread-like antennae and six legs built for fast scurrying.
• Lookalikes: earwigs are sometimes mistaken for rove beetles, but rove beetles lack pincers and have very short elytra covering a flexible abdomen instead.

Earwigs are found throughout temperate regions of Europe, North America, and other continents where they have become established. They favor cool, moist, dark microhabitats such as mulch, leaf litter, under bark, stones, and garden debris, becoming most active at night, especially in spring and summer.

Earwigs are nocturnal, hiding in tight, dark crevices during the day and emerging at night to forage. Their diet is omnivorous, including decaying plant material, fungi, and small soft-bodied insects such as aphids. When threatened, an earwig may raise and display its abdominal pincers as a defensive posture, and it can pinch in defense if handled, though the cerci are primarily used for prey capture and mating displays.

Earwigs undergo incomplete metamorphosis with egg, nymph, and adult stages. A female lays a cluster of eggs in an underground chamber and remains with them, cleaning and guarding the eggs and early-stage nymphs, an unusual example of parental care among insects. Nymphs resemble small wingless adults and molt several times before reaching maturity, typically producing one generation per year with adults overwintering in sheltered burrows.