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Not many people know that the earwig insect is the most common two-tailed. Dvuhvostok can be found in large numbers in gardens, vegetable gardens, and sometimes in residential premises.
There are many frightening rumors about this insect. The two-tail is considered poisonous, capable of killing a person, namely: crawling into his ear, biting through the membrane and sucking the brain.
But all this is nothing more than myths. What exactly is a earwig? What does it eat, how does it multiply, and what harm does it do?
Reproduction and types of insect
Earwig (Dermaptera lat.) belongs to the order of leather-winged insects with incomplete metamorphosis (absence of the pupal stage in insects). This is a small insect about 2-3 centimeters long, brown in color. The insect got its name thanks to its tail with two pincers (serrated tongs) at the end.
In shape, the tail resembles the beautician's forceps used to pierce the ears of women. It has a pair of short wings, but it rarely flies. On the head are the eyes, mustache and powerful jaws. The earwig is afraid of daylight and is nocturnal.
Photo of earwigs:
Reproduction
Fertilization of two-tails usually occurs at the end of summer.
Fertilized females hibernate in the soil in pre-prepared nests. Egg clutch usually occurs in spring, but it also happens in autumn, in which case the female hibernates in the nest together with the laid eggs.
The male is also in the same nest with the female, but rarely survives until the onset of spring.
Having laid eggs, (one clutch contains from 40 to 100 eggs), the female is constantly near the future offspring, protecting the eggs from the encroachments of uninvited guests during the entire period of their maturation until the appearance of the larvae.
Larvae differ from adults in the size of the body and the absence of wings. A gradual transformation occurs as it molts, until the earwig turns into an adult insect.
... Earwigs are not the only insects that can be found in our gardens and garden plots. Most of them are pests.
Representatives of earwigs
All over the world there are about one and a half thousand species of this insect.
Here are just a few of them.:
- Ordinary earwig.
It reaches a length of 1.5-2 cm, has a dark brown color and strongly developed muscles. Skillfully uses pincers, is able to grab and hold prey with them, and also defend itself like a spear.
It is predominantly nocturnal, hides during the day, and gets food at night. The diet depends on the habitat: plant food, tree fungi, small insects.
- Coastal earwig.
Distributed throughout the world and lives in a variety of climatic and natural zones. The type of soil is important - sandy and super-sandy soils along the banks of rivers, lakes and seas, as well as in forest belts.
Small earwig.
The smallest representative of this family. Distributed everywhere, in length does not exceed 6.5 mm. A distinctive feature is a daytime lifestyle.
- Asian earwig.
It is distinguished by a bright color - black with yellow spots in the elytra zone. Has strongly curved ticks and is diurnal.
As the name implies, it lives in the Asian regions. Can migrate on flights. At low speed, the height of movement can be up to 100 meters, the duration of such massive flights is two weeks.
- Central Asian earwig.
The species, which has completely lost its wings, lives high in the mountains, in the forests of the subalpine belt.
- Guinean cave earwig.
It differs from other species due to the specifics of its habitat. Lives in caves where she is completely devoid of sunlight. As a result, there is practically no vision, the limbs and antennae are very elongated, the pigmentation of the outer integument is very pale.
- Arixenia.
Indo-Malayan earwig species. They live in caves, and some subspecies are able to parasitize on their neighbors - bats. Outwardly, they look more like a larva, wings are completely absent, claws are very weak, vision is poor, and the body is covered with dense vegetation.
- Gemimera.
Lives in tropical Africa. This species belongs to parasites, since it lives mainly on the skin of a hamster rat. No vision, short limbs and no wings. A distinctive feature is that eggs develop into larvae directly in the body of the female. Some scientists suggest separating these insects into a separate order and not counting them as earwigs.
Ordinary earwig
Coastal earwig
Small earwig
Asian earwig
Central Asian earwig
Food
These insects are unpretentious and omnivorous. Favorite food is fruits, vegetables, plants, especially garden flowers.
They do not disdain the remains of small insects. Often, in search of food, they can crawl into a residential building, where they feed on food leftovers from the table, destroy indoor plants, can crawl into a wardrobe and damage clothes.
Earwigs do not like daylight, crawl out in search of food at night. During the day, they gather in a heap under the bark of trees, in the cracks of boards, under stones, preferring dark and damp shelters.
You can find them in houses in bathrooms, toilets, basements.
Is it dangerous for humans
Earwig: what is dangerous for humans? All chilling stories about the insidiousness of the two-tailed, which can destroy a person, penetrating into his ear and damaging the brain is nothing more than fiction.
Of course, she can crawl into the ear of some summer resident, if he suddenly wanted to take a nap right on the ground. What happens if an earwig gets into your ear? The insect does not pose any danger to the ear and brain.
In this case, you should not panic, but if possible, immediately consult a doctor and he will take the unfortunate insect out.
IMPORTANT! The earwig is not poisonous. It is impossible to die from her bite. The insect can only bite on the defensive, if it suddenly sees a source of danger in you. The bite site may turn red, in which case the skin must be treated with an antiseptic.
The harm and benefits of earwigs
these small insects cause considerable harm to gardens, vegetable gardens, apiaries, feeding on plants, fruits, berries and flower petals (especially roses and dahlias suffer from them). They destroy the stocks of bees in the hives. With a large accumulation on the site, young seedlings can be gnawed clean.
IMPORTANT! Fertilizing the ground in the greenhouse with humus, be careful not to bring the earwig with it, you may lose the entire crop.
In dry season, two-tails cause serious damage to fruit trees, gnawing at the tips of leaves and undermining their roots.
But there is a benefit from the two-tails. Eating fallen fruits and berries, the remains of small insects, earwigs act as orderlies of garden plots, clearing them of rot. Feeding on spider mites and aphids, they help plants suffering from these parasites survive.
Control methods
In the garden or in the garden
- Pour boiling water over the place where insects accumulate;
- lay out the traps in the form of wet rags, on which the two-tails will gather, then destroy the traps;
- dig deep into the area in the fall, this will help reduce the number of unwanted guests next year;
- earwigs are afraid of the smell of vinegar, you need to spread the sponges soaked in vinegar for washing dishes on the site.
Readers interested in the earwig may find articles about such pests as useful: fruit fly, bugs, woodlice, nematodes, cicadas, bears, Colorado beetles, dust mites, potato moths.
In home
- Thoroughly clean the room, plug up all the cracks and eliminate all pipe leaks so that there are no damp places in the house, so beloved by earwigs;
- spread out food baits (bran, egg yolk) with an admixture of an insecticidal agent or ordinary boric acid around the house;
- in case of large-scale invasions of dvuhvostok, it is necessary to call the sanitary-epidemiological service.
CAUTION! Lay out the baits in places inaccessible to children and animals.
That's all the information you need to know about all the advantages and disadvantages of earwigs. The appearance of this insect is not enough disagreeable, maybe that's why there are so many terrible rumors about earwigs.
We bring to your attention a video about the invasion of earwigs:
