Earwigs are the hero single mothers of the insect world – and good for your garden too

You lift a stone and staring up at you is a little insect with its tail curled and pincers ready to inflict who knows what. Then you see its attendants – tiny white insects, huddled underneath. Should you drop the stone and quash them, or leave them be?

What you have discovered is a family of one of Britain’s least loved, but one of the most caring insects – an earwig.

Only about 1% of insect species show parental care. Earwigs are one of them.

Females construct…

© La Conversation - lundi 30 janvier 2023