Lesser earwig
The lesser earwig is a small chocolate brown earwig with pincers at the end of its body. Its whole body is covered in fine yellow hairs. Unlike its bigger cousin, it loves to fly, and it uses its pincers to help unfold its wings.
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Fun facts
It is only about half the size of the common earwig.
In cool countries it hides in warm compost heaps, and people often find it when they turn the compost.
The mother earwig looks after her eggs and feeds her babies for a week or two after they hatch.
It lives further north in Canada than any other earwig.
Most asked questions about Lesser earwig
?Do earwigs crawl into your ears?
No. That is an old story. Earwigs like dark, damp places such as compost, not ears.
?Can a lesser earwig pinch you?
It is so small that its pincers cannot hurt you.
?Can earwigs fly?
Some can. The lesser earwig flies often and uses its pincers to help unfold its wings.
Myth buster
Myth: Earwigs crawl into people's ears while they sleep.
Truth: No. That is just an old story. Earwigs like dark, damp places such as compost and leaves, not ears.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Labia minor
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Spongiphoridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Dermaptera > Spongiphoridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Small earwig
Where the facts come from
- Labia minor (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Leila Dasher. CC BY 4.0, 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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