Common earwig

The common earwig is a slim, shiny insect about a centimetre and a half long, with a reddish-brown body and a friendly-looking pair of pincers at its tail. It is one of the most familiar garden insects in the world, and you might find one tucked under a flowerpot or hiding in the folds of a leaf.

Those pincers at the tail can look surprising, but they are quite harmless. They are called forceps, and earwigs use them mostly for showing off to one another and for gentle defence. A male has curved, rounded forceps, while a female’s are straight and slender. They even help the earwig fold up its delicate wings.

One of the loveliest things about earwigs is what careful parents they are. In autumn a mother earwig makes a cosy little nest underground and lays around fifty tiny eggs. Then she does something unusual for an insect — she stays and looks after them, cleaning each egg with her mouth and forceps to keep mould away and guarding her babies until they hatch.

Earwigs like the dark, so they rest in cool, damp hideaways during the day and come out to explore at night. They are omnivores, which means they enjoy a mixed menu. They nibble small creatures like aphids and mites, and they also munch on leaves, fruit, flowers and other bits of plants.

The common earwig first lived in Europe and western Asia, but it has travelled far and now lives across much of North America and beyond, often as a helpful garden neighbour. By eating aphids and other small pests, earwigs quietly lend gardeners a hand while going about their busy nightly lives.