Page 114 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #12

VIEWPOINT
MARTIN HUGHES-GAMES
Inourseriesaboutpeoplewithapassionfora species, we ask TV presenter
MartinHughes-Gameswhyhecaressomuch about the common earwig.
Why are you passionate
about earwigs?
Many years ago, I bought The Natural
History of the Garden by Michael
Chinery. In this wonderful book, the
author gives a very informative and
affectionate account of British earwigs.
It came as a surprise to me that anyone
could be fond of these insects. Inspired
by Chinery, I was determined to find
out more about them and became
passionate about earwigs, too.
Why champion an insect?
The very latest scientific research has
shown that insect numbers are crashing
all around the world. This is a terrifying
prospect because they are critical to a
vast number of ecosystems, providing
food for a host of larger animals. If
they disappear, the impact will be
catastrophic. We need to be more aware
of their importance. I hate the fact that
so many people only like ‘cute’ animals.
Where does the common
earwig’s name come from?
Earwigs have the word ‘ear’ in their
name in many different languages.
These insects show thigmotaxis (they
respond to touch stimuli), meaning they
tend to stop moving when they feel their
bodies in contact with the substrate
above and below them. This helps them
to recognise if they are in a protective
environment, such as under a stone.
Due to this behaviour, earwigs
have occasionally crawled into a
human ear while searching for
a safe place to rest.
Have you ever
filmed earwigs?
I made a 30-minute
documentary that
followed the life of a
single female. It
was one of my
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WILDLIFE CHAMPION
attacking a pseudoscorpion that had
entered her nest. To our amazement,
she killed it using her pincers. Female
earwigs gather their eggs together
if they are disturbed, lick them to
prevent fungal infection, and feed their
offspring mouth to mouth – exceptional
behaviour in the insect world.
Why do earwigs have pincers
on the tip of their abdomens?
These are defensive structures. You
can easily tell the difference between a
male and female earwig by looking at
their pincers – the male’s are curved
S I’ve ilmed a like a pair of garden sickles (below, left)
female earwig whereas the female’s are straight
and meet down the middle.
killing a nest
intruder with How many species are there?
The UK has four species of earwig
most enjoyable her pincers. It – we used to have five but the tawny
TV experiences was amazing! T earwig, found in sandy habitats, is
because we created a probably extinct. I dream of fame and
magical world in an glory by rediscovering a colony. Don’t
allotment in Bristol. tell anyone but I devote a lot of my
My friend Chris Timmins managed, holiday time to searching. As with so
by careful experimentation, to get many creatures, once you start to delve
an earwig to open its wings for us into the lives of earwigs, you become
on camera. They were extraordinary addicted and fascinated. Jo Price
– shimmering iridescent colours,
fantastically thin and wondrously MARTIN HUGHES-GAMES was recently awarded
folded. Earwigs the Dilys Breese Medal by the British Trust for
Ornithology, and is the author of A Wild Life.
belong to the
Dermaptera order,
meaning ‘skin wings’ – The expert view
it’s a perfect description
of what we observed. “The common earwig is widespread
in the UK and most likely to be seen
Why are females between April and October. These
excellent nocturnal omnivores are considered
mothers? to be pests by some gardeners, because they eat Martin: Paul Carter; common earwig: Kim Taylor/naturepl.com
They spend the young leaves and the petals of plants, but they
winter protecting are also beneficial because they feed on aphids.
between 20 and The common earwig mates in the autumn and
40 eggs in a small nymphs hatch in the spring. These will shed their
cavity. In my earwig outer skin four times as they develop into adults.”
film, we captured a female Alan Stubbs is vice president of Buglife
December 2018