A wiglet, I think

10 Tuesday Jan 2023

Tags

Common earwig, earwig, insects in leaf litter, juvenile earwig, wiglet

Did you know juvenile earwigs are called wiglets? I didn’t until I started looking online for images, trying to verify if this really is a juvenile earwig. I’m still not 100% sure but, with those hind pincers, what else could it be? This find was another from my recent leaf-turning adventures.

If you’re interested in earwigs and their relatives, the website Orthoptera and allied insects has some excellent downloadable identification guides for grasshoppers, crickets, earwigs, cockroaches and stick-insects. I have contacted them about my wiglet.

230110 juvenile earwig

305/366 Insecting

31 Saturday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects

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British bees, British insects, Buff-tailed bumblebee, Common carder bee, Common Darter, Common earwig, Ivy bee, Ivy bee burrow

Despite the appalling weather – frequent heavy rain and occasional strong winds – we’ve been experiencing over the last couple of weeks, I have managed still to find a few hardy insects, persisting by cunningly finding sheltered places to avoid the worst of the inclement conditions.

These bees seem to have the right idea. On the left is a Buff-tailed bumblebee, which I watched emerging from inside the cosy, fluffy duvet of an Old man’s beard seedhead and, on the right, a Common carder that seems to have the same idea and be looking for a place to snuggle down.

Also looking cosy, these Common earwigs were huddling in the cups of umbellifer seedheads.

201031 common darters

Common darters have still been active in the more sheltered spots during the occasional sunny periods, these at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.

The last of this year’s brood of Ivy bees were still feeding their grubs. They had made use of a rabbit scrape to excavate the underground burrows where their eggs are laid, grubs hatch and pupate and will remain until emerging as adult bees next autumn.

The caring earwig mother

08 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

Common earwig, earwig, earwig maternal care, earwig mothers and their young, earwig parental care, Forficula auricularia

As I’m sure you all know by now, I spend a couple of days each week volunteering at the Mary Gillham Archive Project, part of which involves extracting wildlife records from a huge number of folders absolutely stuffed full of the long lists of species Mary saw every time she stepped outside her house (and some inside her house as well). From attending lectures, watching television programmes, talking to people, reading journal articles, Mary also amassed a wealth of information about the flora and fauna of Britain so we learn a lot of fascinating details just from reading through all the paperwork.

161107-common-earwig-3

Today I was reading about the Common earwig (Forficula auricularia) and was struck by this incredible detail: ‘The earwig mother cares for her young. She licks them – very necessary to keep them free of fungal infection.’ Apparently, the female earwig, who can be recognised by her straight rear pincers (the male’s are curved), spends the wintertime in a tunnel in the soil looking after her eggs, restacking them, sometimes moving them to a different part of the tunnel, and cleaning them to keep them fungi free. From the time they are born until they reach the second instar stage and leave the nest, she brings them plant and animal matter to eat and also regurgitates food for them. Perhaps the gardeners among you will now look more kindly on the earwigs that are chewing your dahlias – they might just have babies to feed.