---
title: "What the sources say about the Common Earwig | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "42 claims from the Common Earwig profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Common Earwig (*Forficula auricularia*)

> 42 claims from the Common Earwig profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Common Earwig](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/common-earwig/)

## Forficula auricularia. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Forficula_auricularia/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Not Evaluated | IUCN Red List Not Evaluated (note: Prefetch found no Red List assessment DOI and GBIF holds no category; ADW lists IUCN Red List: Not Evaluated. No IUCN reference is cited.) |
| Dark, moist places in forests, farmland and suburbs | they prefer places that are dark and moist to hide from predators. Their habitats include forests, agricultural, and suburban areas |
| native to Europe, eastern Asia and northern Africa | European earwigs are native to Europe, eastern Asia, and northern Africa |
| Aphids and other small animals, plus living and decaying plants | They feed on other organisms, both dead and alive, including aphids , maggots , mites , spiders , and protozoans . They also feed on both living and decaying plants |
| The two pincers on the tail end are forceps, also called cerci. | European earwigs are well-known for the set of forceps, known as cerci, that protrude from the abdomen |
| Males wave and bob them in courtship. | Males wave and bob the forceps in the air, stroking and grasping the female. |
| When threatened, the earwig snaps them together. | When European earwigs feel threatened or their offspring are threatened by a predator, they use their forceps as a weapon by snapping them quickly together. |
| Its other defence is a set of glands in the abdomen that secrete chemicals to repel predators. | These include using their forceps as a weapon and using glands found in the abdomen to secrete chemicals that act as a repellent to predators. |
| Male forceps are longer and more curved than the female's. | with those of the male being longer and more curved than those of the female |
| It is nocturnal, hiding by day in dark, moist places and emerging at night to hunt or scavenge. | European earwigs are nocturnal. They hide during the day in dark moist places ... At night, they emerge to hunt or scavenge for food. |
| It eats aphids, maggots, mites and spiders, plus living and decaying plants. | including aphids , maggots , mites , spiders , and protozoans . They also feed on both living and decaying plants |
| It is native to Europe, eastern Asia and northern Africa, and today it lives on every continent except Antarctica. | European earwigs are native to Europe, eastern Asia, and northern Africa. Today, they can be found on all continents except Antarctica. |
| ADW gives a typical life of 1 year in the wild | A typical European earwig lives 1 year in the wild. (note: ADW is old; current source for the generation length is the next claim.) |
| The mother feeds her newly hatched young by regurgitation, bringing up food for them. | Once the larvae hatch in about 70 days, mothers provide their young with food by regurgitation until they reach the second. (note: 'bringing up food' is a gloss of regurgitation.) |
| The nymphs release pheromones, chemical signals that encourage her to keep caring for them. | Nymphs also release pheromones, which encourage mothers to provide care to their young. |
| About two months after hatching they become independent and no longer need her. | The offspring become independent two months after hatching and no longer require parental care. |
| They eat aphids, which can badly damage apple and pear orchards, and they can help control that pest. | Aphids , a staple in European earwigs' diet, can cause great destruction to apple and pear orchards. European earwigs can help to control the population of aphids |
| They also feed on fruits and other crops and can cause considerable damage, though ADW says it is not nearly as destructive as aphids. | They can also cause damage to fruits and other crops as they feed on them. They are not as nearly destructive as aphids or other pests, but their feeding can still cause considerable damage to crops. |

## Ridge. European earwig (Forficula auricularia). The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/caes/documents/publications/fact_sheets/entomology/european_earwig_forficula.pdf

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The garden insect whose mother grooms her eggs like a hen | She will groom and turn the eggs much like a hen |
| may go as long as 7 months without feeding | the female does not eat, and she may not feed for as long as 7 months |
| A mother that grooms and guards her eggs like a hen | She will groom and turn the eggs much like a hen, frequently shifting their position. Once the eggs have hatched, she will guard her young and feed them |
| The European earwig, Forficula auricularia, has a trait that is rare among insects: the mother cares for her eggs and young. | The female earwig exhibits behavior that is rare among insects, maternal care of the eggs and young. |
| In late winter the female lays her eggs in a chamber in the soil and drives the male out. | A chamber is excavated in the soil to provide the pair with an over wintering site. In late winter, the female lays her eggs and then drives the male from the chamber. |
| She grooms and turns the eggs much like a hen, frequently shifting their position. | She will groom and turn the eggs much like a hen, frequently shifting their position. |
| Once they hatch, she guards the young and feeds them until they have molted into the third stage. | Once the eggs have hatched, she will guard her young and feed them until they have molted into the third stage. |
| During this period the female does not eat, and she may not feed for as long as 7 months. | During this period, the female does not eat, and she may not feed for as long as 7 months. |
| An adult is reddish brown. | An adult earwig is reddish brown |
| and a Connecticut fact sheet as about ¾ inch. | approximately ¾ inches long |
| The name comes from a European superstition that the insect would crawl into the ears of sleeping people, and a Connecticut fact sheet calls that untrue. | Its name is derived from a European superstition that the insect will crawl into the ears of people as they sleep. This is untrue. |
| The pincers look fearsome, but they are mainly used in courtship, and the earwig is considered harmless to people. | Despite the formidable appearance of caudal forceps/pincers, which are primarily used for courtship, the earwig is considered harmless to people. |

## European earwigs. Penn State Extension.

https://extension.psu.edu/european-earwigs

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A first batch holds 30 to 55 eggs. | In the first batch, females lay from 30 to 55 eggs. |
| Penn State notes that some males have forceps 5 mm long, while others have forceps 9.5 mm long. | The forceps of some males are 3/16 inch (5 mm) long, while others have forceps 3/8 inch (9.5 mm) long. |
| Penn State gives its length as 16 mm | Adult European earwigs are 5/8 inch (16 mm) long |
| and Penn State says the species has one generation per year. | European earwigs exhibit one generation per year |

## Haas, Gorb & Wootton (2000). Elastic joints in dermapteran hind wings: materials and wing folding. Arthropod Structure & Development.

https://doi.org/10.1016/s1467-8039(00)00025-6

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| hind wings that must be unfolded by the tail forceps | the wing cannot be unfolded from the thorax proper but must be unfolded by the cerci (note: cerci = the forceps per ADW: 'forceps, known as cerci'.) |
| The hind wings of Forficula auricularia fold from within the wing, driven mainly by resilin, a rubber-like protein. | folding is achieved from within the wing ... Resilin, a rubber-like protein, was revealed ... resilin is the major driving mechanism for wing folding |
| The wing cannot be unfolded from the thorax proper but must be unfolded by the cerci. | the wing cannot be unfolded from the thorax proper but must be unfolded by the cerci |
| folded hind wings cannot be opened from the thorax and must be unfolded by the pincers on its tail | the wing cannot be unfolded from the thorax proper but must be unfolded by the cerci (note: vibe.reason, animal half) |

## Tomkins & Brown (2004). Population density drives the local evolution of a threshold dimorphism. Nature.

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02918

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A 2004 study of island populations found that population density drives whether males come in one forceps form or two, and traced the switch over a distance of only 40 km. | Here we show threshold evolution in the forceps dimorphism of the European earwig Forficula auricularia and document the transition from completely monomorphic to classical male-dimorphic populations over a distance of only 40 km. ... this factor drives the local evolution of the male dimorphism in these island populations (note: 2004 is the publication year of the cited reference (Tomkins & Brown 2004).) |

## Falk et al. (2014). Sibling Cooperation in Earwig Families Provides Insights into the Early Evolution of Social Life. The American Naturalist.

https://doi.org/10.1086/675364

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In an experiment, food eaten by one young earwig was passed to its siblings through mouth-to-anus contacts. | Here we show experimentally that sibling interactions also reflect cooperative behaviors in the form of food sharing in nonderived families of the European earwig, Forficula auricularia. Food ingested by individual offspring was transferred to their siblings through mouth-to-anus contacts (note: 'experiment' = abstract's 'experimentally'.) |

## Guillet, Josselin & Vancassel (2000). Multiple introductions of the Forficula auricularia species complex (Dermaptera: Forficulidae) in eastern North America. The Canadian Entomologist.

https://doi.org/10.4039/ent13249-1

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A 2000 study treats the name Forficula auricularia as a species complex. | the European earwig, Forficula auricularia L., species complex (note: 2000 is the publication year of the cited reference (Guillet et al. 2000); dated so the species-complex view is not stated as current fact from a 2000 source.) |
| Its survey of nine populations in eastern North America found two sibling species there, called A and B. | A survey of nine populations of the European earwig, Forficula auricularia L., species complex from eastern North America revealed the presence of the two sibling species recently identified as species A and B. |