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Sticker of Black earwig
Bug card No. 0398 of 4,939

Black earwig

Chelisoches morio
Eats: A bit of everythingOther insectsRainforests and jungles6 legs

The black earwig is a shiny, jet black earwig with a pair of pincers at the end of its body. It likes warm, damp places and comes out mostly at night. The mother earwig is a very caring parent.

Lives in
Warm and damp places around the world, especially the tropics and Pacific islands
Length
1.8 to 2.5 cm (0.71 to 0.98 in)
Top speed
about 0.67 km/h (0.42 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
It can give a little pinch with its pincers, but it cannot hurt you.
What does it eat?
It hunts aphids, mites, termites and other small insects, and also eats fruit such as bananas and dragon fruit.
For real!Photo of Black earwig
Picture by Smallman12q ( talk ). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Black earwig about 2.5 cm long (0.98 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 4 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 5.4 seconds

How big is Black earwig compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The mother lays about 140 eggs and stays with them, cleaning them and keeping them damp until they hatch.

2

If the mother is taken away from her eggs, they do not hatch.

3

After hatching, the mother feeds her babies for a day and guards them until they change their skin.

4

It uses its pincers to catch prey, to defend itself, to fight and to win a partner.

5

Some black earwigs grow as long as 36 millimetres.

you asked

Most asked questions about Black earwig

?Is the black earwig dangerous?

No. It can pinch a little with its pincers, but it is harmless.

?What does the black earwig eat?

Small insects like aphids and termites, and fruit such as bananas.

Myth buster

Myth: Earwigs crawl into people's ears.

Truth: No. That is an old story. Earwigs like dark, damp hiding places, but they do not go into ears.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Chelisoches morio
Group
Other insects
Family
Chelisochidae
Classification
Insecta > Dermaptera > Chelisochidae
Lives on
Asia, Australia and Oceania, North America, South America, Africa

Where the facts come from

  1. Chelisoches morio (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Smallman12q ( talk ). Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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