THE EUROPEAN EARWIG: GETTING THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS?

Abstract:
The European Earwig (Forficula auricularia) is considered to be a pest in urban gardens, and also of fruit, ornamentals and a contaminant in mechanically harvested fruit. However earwigs are also efficient predators of fruit pests such as aphids, mites, scale and insect eggs, and are probably exerting a degree of biological control of pests in gardens as well as orchards. Electrophysiological and behavioural studies have confirmed the role of a volatile pheromone in aggregating earwig distributions. The potential use of the aggregation pheromone in controlling earwigs in an urban situation and in maximising their potential for biocontrol of insect pests is discussed.