Saint Helena earwig
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| Saint Helena earwig | ||||||||||||||||
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| Labidura herculeana (Fabricius, 1798) |
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 Location of Saint Helena
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The Saint Helena earwig (Labidura herculeana) is a species of earwig endemic to the remote island of Saint Helena, in the south Atlantic Ocean. Alternative names include Saint Helena striped earwig and Saint Helena giant earwig. It has also been called the "Dodo of the Dermaptera", since it is endemic to a small oceanic island, and is possibly extinct.
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[edit] History
The Saint Helena earwig was first discovered by Danish entomologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1798. It lived mostly in the Eastern Arid Area of the island. It became confused with the smaller and more familiar shore earwig Labidura riparia, and received little attention from science. It was all but forgotten until it was rediscovered in 1962 when two ornithologists, Douglas Dorward and Philip Ashmole, found some enormous dry tail pincers while searching for bird bones. They were given to zoologist Arthur Loveridge who confirmed they belonged to a form of huge earwig. They were later studied by a number of other zoologists.
It has entered the folklore of Saint Helena. On 9 February 1988, The Independent ran a story about a rescue mission to save it. In the article a scientist from London Zoo said that the earwigs "had an attractive family life-style... The females make extremely good mothers." This story was also in this article, called "Over there, the topics ring all sorts of bells", published 18 February 1988. It says:
'On a more cheerful note, the front page of the Independent - one of Britain's newest and best papers - carries a story of great import. An expedition is being mounted to save an endangered species from extinction. London Zoo has already pledged ₤3,000 to the cause. And the issue? No, not whales, crocodiles, whooping cranes or the Giant Panda - but the Giant Earwig of St Helena. No kidding, an earwig which was last seen in 1967, on the front page of The Independent. "It's quite difficult to get people interested in earwigs," said Dave Clark of London Zoo who is leading the rescue mission to St Helena. "The females make extremely good mothers ... I love all insects, particularly earwigs. They're fascinating." Eat your heart out, Greenpeace.'
In April 1995 another specimen of earwig remains was found. It proved that the earwigs did not only live in gumwood forests and, before breeding seabirds were wiped out by introduced predators, they also lived in seabird colonies.
[edit] Description
The Saint Helena earwig is the world's largest earwig. It is shiny black with reddish legs, short elytra, and no hind wings. It may grow to 84 mm (3.3 inches) long.
[edit] Distribution and habitat
The earwig is endemic to Saint Helena, being found on the Horse Point Plain, Prosperous Bay Plain, and the Eastern Arid Area of the island. It is known to have lived in plain areas, gumwood forests, and seabird colonies in rocky places.
[edit] Behavior
The earwig inhabits deep burrows, coming out only at night following rain. It is probably herbivorous or weakly omnivorous. A native predator may have been the now extinct Giant Hoopoe (Upupa antaios).
[edit] Conservation status
The earwig has not been seen alive since 1967 though there were unsuccessful searches for it in 1988, 1993 and 2003. It is possibly extinct due to habitat loss as well as predation by introduced rodents, an introduced centipede (Scolopendra morsitans), cats and sparrows. If it still exists it may be threatened by the planned Saint Helena Airport at Prosperous Bay Plain. It is in category CR B1+2a ver 2.3 (1994) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
[edit] References
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1996). Labidura herculeana. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Listed as Critically Endangered (CR B1+2a v2.3)
- Shucker, Karl. The Lost Ark. Harper Collins Publisher, 1993. 235-236.
- The Giant Earwig of St. Helena - The Dodo of the Dermaptera
- Invertebrates of Prosperous Bay Plain, St. Helena (Word Format)
- Labidura herculeana
- It's giant earwigs versus aircraft on remote St Helena (Airport Article)
- The giant earwig that could bring a country to a standstill (Another Airport Article)
