Saint Helena Giant Earwig

Labidura herculeana — the Saint Helena giant earwig — was the LARGEST EARWIG IN THE WORLD and is one of the most-cited examples of INVASIVE-SPECIES-DRIVEN EXTINCTION of island endemic arthropods. The species was endemic to the small remote SOUTH ATLANTIC ISLAND OF SAINT HELENA — a 122 km² volcanic island located approximately 1,950 km west of Africa, famous as the place where NAPOLEON BONAPARTE was exiled (1815-1821) and where he died. The species was historically abundant on Saint Helena in moist habitats — under stones, in vegetation, in cliff crevices, and in soil cavities. Adults were 8 cm body length INCLUDING THE DRAMATIC FORCEPS (cerci) at the rear, with the largest specimens reaching 9-10 cm including the cerci. The species was reddish-brown with characteristic dark earwig forceps used in male-male combat, prey capture, and defense. The species is now believed to be EXTINCT — the LAST CONFIRMED SIGHTING was in 1967, when several individuals were observed under stones near the Diana's Peak summit area. Multiple intensive surveys since 1967 (most recently in 1988, 1995, 2003, and 2014) have FAILED TO LOCATE ANY LIVING SAINT HELENA GIANT EARWIGS. The species was officially declared EXTINCT by the IUCN Red List in 2014. The extinction is attributed to multiple compounding factors typical of small-island arthropod losses: HABITAT DESTRUCTION (deforestation of native Saint Helena gumwood and tree-fern forests for agriculture and grazing), PREDATION BY INTRODUCED RATS AND MICE (multiple Rattus species and house mice introduced to Saint Helena since human colonization in 1502 — major predators of large arthropods on the island), COMPETITION FROM INTRODUCED CENTIPEDES (especially the larger Scolopendra centipedes that may have outcompeted the giant earwig for prey and habitat), and likely INCIDENTAL PESTICIDE EXPOSURE during 20th-century agricultural development. The Saint Helena giant earwig's extinction is one of the most-cited examples of INVASIVE-SPECIES-DRIVEN EXTINCTION OF AN ISLAND ENDEMIC ARTHROPOD and is featured in essentially every modern conservation biology curriculum as a flagship case of invertebrate extinction. The species is also a flagship subject of modern arthropod conservation discussions of the GLOBAL INSECT DECLINE — a parallel case with the cooked-up extinction of the Bermuda land snail and other small-island invertebrate extinctions caused by invasive species and habitat loss. The species' loss is also a flagship subject of REWILDING and DE-EXTINCTION discussions — though Saint Helena giant earwig de-extinction is unlikely (no preserved DNA samples are known to exist, and the species' close relatives are not closely-enough related to support genetic resurrection). The species is harmless to humans (was harmless when alive — earwig forceps cannot pinch hard enough to penetrate human skin) and is a flagship symbol of invertebrate conservation loss.