‘Tis the season – for earwigs entering homes. These sinister-looking insects are really of little consequence, until they find their way into homes through cracks and gaps. We are seeing a few earwigs around homes these days, so I thought I’d present a few interesting facts about them.
Earwigs belong to the insect order Dermaptera; translated literally, this means :”skin-wing.” This is because the membranous hind-wings of earwigs usually remain folded up under a leathery (or skin-like) pair of shortened forewings. Of course, as I mentioned in my previous post, these critters get a bad rap because of the myth that they enter the ears of people and burrow into the brain. Rest easy – this is pure fiction! That’s not to say it’s out of the question for the occasional insect, including an earwig, to get lodged in someone’s ear – but earwigs truly have no interest in us.
Their fearsome appearance is due to a pair of prominent “pincers” (forceps or cerci to entomologists) on their hind end. Some earwigs are predaceous and use their pincers to capture prey. Males use them in courtship battles to defeat other males and win the favors of female earwigs. Dietary habits of earwigs vary – some are plant pests, many are scavengers, some are cannibalistic, and some feed on other small creatures. Most are nocturnal and spend their days happily gathered in tight cracks and crevices, or underneath objects. Poor-fitting crawl space doors, items stacked near homes, and mulch piles near homes can be sources for earwigs that make their way indoors. On rare occasions they can build up massive populations and migrate en masse, creating an earwig invasion, but this situation is fairly unusual.
OK, so we know they have a fearsome appearance, and people certainly don’t like discovering them inside their homes. Do they have any redeeming qualities? Absolutely! Unlike most insects, earwig mothers stick around after laying their eggs to guard them, and even protect their young for a period of time. Any good mother should find this quality endearing….
What about earwigs in popular culture? Instead of www.snopes.com, this week I decided to have a look at www.youtube.com. There’s a very informative debunking of the earwig myth at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzZVHPpR1QU – complete with a real entomologist and a real anthropologist! Good stuff…also, if you’re curious, you can see an earwig with her eggs at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KghWfXOIC_w. And yes, there is a band out there called Earwig – have a listen if you dare at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-nvvdkqu7o.
Can we take care of earwig problems? Of course! We have products that are very effective against them, and will give you helpful hints on small steps you can take to make your home and its surroundings less inviting to earwigs and other pests. Thanks for reading!