Earwig

insects · pincers · tiny creatures

Pincer-tailed bugs. Earwigs have two special curved pincers called cerci on the end of their abdomen that look like tiny forceps. They use these pincers to grab food, defend themselves, and even hold onto mates.

Found almost everywhere. You can find earwigs on every continent except Antarctica, living in gardens, under rocks, and in dark, damp places. With about 2,000 different species, they're actually pretty common little creatures.

Weird wing setup. Earwigs have two pairs of wings, but their outer wings are short and hardened. They fold their delicate inner wings underneath like origami, and they rarely fly even though they can.

Tiny troublemakers. Some earwig species are so small that they live as parasites on mammals, which means they hitch rides on bigger animals. These tiny ones don't even have the famous pincers that most earwigs are known for.

A smaller order. Even though there are thousands of earwig species, they're one of the smaller insect orders on the planet. This means there are way more beetles, butterflies, and flies out there.