Fear not the earwig: these insects are perfect garden friends and very unlikely to find a home in your ear <\/p>
‘Earwig’ is not a name to generate affection. The thought of these creatures nipping through one\u2019s eardrum with their forceps like pincers is the stuff of nightmares. Gardeners know how partial they are to flower petals, especially those prize dahlia<\/a> blooms, but there is much more to earwigs than their fearsome exterior as Fran Sconce, Entomologist and Royal Entomological Society Outreach Officer explains.<\/p> Earwigs are not dangerous, nor are they poisonous or harmful to humans in any way<\/p><\/blockquote> Earwigs, order Dermaptera<\/em>, are \u2018orthopteroid\u2019 insects and are closely related to grasshoppers, crickets and cockroaches. They are easily recognised by the pincers known as \u2018cerci\u2019 at their rear end and are often feared because of their appearance. They are, however, not dangerous, nor are they poisonous or harmful to humans in any way. The cerci, curved in males and straight in females, are there to protect them from natural predators; toads, birds, beetles and bats<\/a> to name but a few.<\/p> You may also like:<\/strong><\/p> Earwigs hide away by day in dark, damp crevices amongst plant debris<\/p><\/blockquote> One of the most common of our insect-related \u2018Old Wives\u2019 Tales\u2019 is that of the earwig crawling into a human ear to lay their eggs. Thankfully this is nothing more than a myth! Earwigs are nocturnal creatures that hide away by day in dark, damp crevices amongst plant debris and log piles<\/a>. They are much more likely to be found in a loose piece of bark than in an ear canal but the likely origins of its name are probably the source of our aversion.<\/p> The Old English word \u2018earwicga\u2019 means \u2018ear creature\u2019 and is likely to have been attributed to this insect due to the shape of their beautiful, shell-like (and rarely seen) wings. The etymology of the classification Dermaptera<\/em> similarly derives from the Greek \u2018Skin Wings\u2019 and well explains their gossamer-like appearance.<\/p>