About 2,000 species of insects with forceps-like pincers on the tail, found on every continent except Antarctica. Mostly nocturnal, they hide in damp crevices by day and eat a wide mix of plants and insects. Most can fly but rarely do.
Quick answers
What is it?Insect
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
It hides in damp crevices by day and comes out at night to feed.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
ColoursBrown, Black
SizeTiny
LengthMostly 7–50 mm
Legs6
Covered inExoskeleton
Lives alone
Lives for1 year
Can fly
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Every continent except Antarctica; the common earwig was introduced to North America from Europe in 1907.
- What it eats
- Mostly scavengers of dead plant and animal matter; the common earwig also eats plants, ripe fruit and small insects.
Did you know
It does not crawl into ears. It does, unusually for an insect, mother its young.
The hind wings unfold into a shape like a human ear, which may be where the name really comes from.
A mother cleans her eggs to keep fungus off them, and has been seen cleaning wax balls by mistake.
Often confused with
On these lists
Sources
Last reviewed
Play
Could you have guessed it?
A photo, a few hints, one guess. Same 438 animals.
