Earwigs

Looks like it might be a bad year for earwigs. As I turn rocks in the garden there are masses of tiny earwigs hatching already.

Earwigs have what is known as an incomplete metamorphosis. They have three life cycle stages. Egg, nymph and adult. In this group of insects the young look similar to but smaller than the adults.

These are the European Earwig (Forficula auricularia ) you can see in this photo that the babies are almost tiny versions of their parents...

there I zoomed in for a better look!

I have begun collecting earwigs for the chooks already but I always check which ones I'm catching!

This handsome fellow is an Australian Brown Earwig (Labidura truncata) which is actually a very good guy to have around the garden! I rescue any of these before giving the bucket to the chooks!!! I am seeing quite a few of these fellows this year too!

They are known to eat soft-bodies caterpillars, the main one in my garden is the larvae of the codling moth which attacks the fruit of my Apple and Pear trees.

I have seen quite a number of these out in the orchard where they are protected, from the chooks, by large rocks!

If I were to set out traps of oil to catch earwigs, as is often suggested, I could be guilty of murdering these helpful creatures...and that is not something I intend to do!

More about Earwigs Here