European Earwig

Forficula auricularia — the European earwig — is the most cosmopolitan of the ~2,000 species in order Dermaptera. The species is native to Europe and western Asia; it has been transported worldwide via plant trade and is now established across North America (since the 1900s), much of South America, and Australia. The body is elongated (12-16 mm), brown, with a pair of forceps-like cerci at the rear that males use in male-male combat and in mating displays (males have curved cerci, females have straight ones). The ancient myth that earwigs crawl into human ears and burrow to the brain — a story so persistent that the order's name in many European languages references the ear (English 'earwig,' German 'Ohrwurm,' French 'perce-oreille') — is completely false. Earwigs have no orientation toward warm-blooded mammals, no burrowing behavior, and no documented incidents of intentional ear entry. The species' most remarkable real biology is extended maternal care: the mother lays 30-50 eggs in a chamber under stone or bark, then guards them for weeks, licking them daily to remove fungal spores (a behavior unique among temperate insects), and continues to defend the nymphs for several weeks after hatching. Earwigs are omnivorous — they eat plant material, dead insects, aphids, and decaying organic matter. They are minor garden pests at high density but valuable biocontrol agents at low density.