African Earwig (Euborellia cincticollis)

Arp, you may have to confirm the ID on this one!

On the underside of a rotting log in a backyard habitat. It was desperately trying to escape me, so I only got a couple of shots!

comments (10)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Excellent! Earwigs fully identified are in short supply here. Posted 6 years ago
1. Flown Kimmerling
  
  Lion
  
  It was tiny! I was surprised at how long its antennae were compared to its body! :o I didn't even notice until I took a closer look at the photos! Posted 6 years ago
2. 1. Christine Young
    
    Lion
    
    I think it looks close. The one thing I especially noticed is that the antennae don't have any pale segments, but I'm not sure if that is a diagnostic feature... Posted 6 years ago, modified 6 years ago
  2. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    I'm only noticing it now, wow! Posted 6 years ago

Pudding4brains

Lion

It's an adult male Anisolabididae but I have some serious doubt that it would be E. annulipes. Will need to check with my literature and reference images this weekend... sorry for now, Arp Posted 6 years ago
1. Flown Kimmerling
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks so much, Arp. I was thinking I might be wrong on this. I know nothing of earwigs! Posted 6 years ago
2. 1. Pudding4brains
    
    Lion
    
    After trying to work out a checklist for North-American earwigs and finding IDing info for all the species of Euborellia previously recorded as well as some others that I suspect might be introduced at some point, I finally came to the conclusion that most likely this should be Euborellia cincticollis, which according to my info is only previously know from Californa and Arizona.
    But ... *ROLLEYES* ... I completely forgot about your previous record for Georgia of a fully winged female, here on JD, where I had already noted that it might be worthwhile to collect a few specimen (preferably male) and send them in for positive ID, so that the presence of a viable population in Georgia may be documented properly :o)
    
    Posted 6 years ago, modified 6 years ago
  2. 1. Flown Kimmerling
      
      Lion
      
      Fantastic! I haven't done any pinning in years, but I may have to make an effort to do so in the future! Thank you so much, Arp! You are so helpful!
      
      Posted 6 years ago
    2. Flown Kimmerling
      
      Lion
      
      Also, are you implying that this is a male? Would that be the reason for the morphological differences? Posted 6 years ago
    3. 1. Pudding4brains
        
        Lion
        
        Hi Lisa, yes, like I stated above in my first message: adult male Anisolabididae ;o)
        In this species fully winged, completely wingless and anything in between occurs in both sexes, so that bit is not indicative, but as with all earwigs (at least in our areas) the adult males, as well as the nymphs of both sexes, have 10 abdominal segments and the adult females only 8. Additionally the adult males have modified forceps, which in this family mostly boils down to both forceps being bent at the tip and one of them more strongly so than the other.
        A while back I had uploaded a (very ugly) montage to show this for Euborellia moesta:
        
        My ID of your female is based on the full wings (rare in other species), the colour of the wings/tegmina and the pale ring in the antenna on one segment toward the tip.
        My ID of your male is based on the complete absence of even rudimentary "flaps" where the tegmina (fore wings) would be (compare to my images of E. moesta - in most species these small flaps would be a constant factor, but with the complete range of "winglessness" in this species this form also occurs). Your male doesn't have any pale rings in the antennae (which occurs frequently in a few species that would often show pale rings), so that is of no help, but the antennae have too many segments for E.annulipes and fit nicely for adult cincticollis.
        Together that is still a weak ID, but then I realized you had previously shown us the female photographed very, very nearby ... so, there it is :o) Posted 6 years ago, modified 6 years ago

The African Earwig

Euborellia cincticollis (Gerstaecker, 1883) is a species of earwig in the family Anisolabididae. It is thought to be a native African species, that was introduced to the Americas probably around 1946.

Info 3 0

Similar species: Earwigs

Species identified by Pudding4brains