European earwigs thriving in the Maritimes this summer

A Nova Scotia zoologist says this summer the Maritimes has a higher number of earwigs than the region has seen in nearly 40 years.

Andrew Hebda, a retired curator of zoology, said in a recent interview this season has allowed European earwig populations to thrive.

“We’ve seen stuff like this back in the early 80s,” said Hebda.

A number of factors have made it the perfect year for earwigs, Hedba said.

“What we’re seeing right now with the large numbers is a reflection of the very, very lovely fall we had last year.”

“It’s right across the Maritimes,” said Hebda. “Our conditions have been relatively similar, although it seems to be substantially wetter in New Brunswick.”

With the wet weather in the Maritimes this year, rotting vegetation is common, which means lots of food for the critters.

“They feed on rotting vegetation, decaying wood fibres, leaves, and that kind of stuff,” said Hebda.

With the conditions being so great for the bug this year, Hebda said residents can expect to see more.

“We had really good conditions up until this point, which means we’ll probably have a really good second batch hatching out somewhere in the end of August, beginning of September,” he said.

ACROSS THE MARITIMES

The species of earwig we often see here in the Maritimes is the European earwig, and as the name suggests, it is not native to Canada.

“They’re not from here, they come from a ways away, and we got them when we got rats and mice,” said Hebda.

“Our first records (of earwigs) in the Maritimes are back in the 30s or 40s, so they’re fairly recent,” he added.

And then in the 1980s, Hebda said the population began to quickly grow.

“We actually saw a lot appearing back in the early 80s, that’s when they started spreading around.”

A BAD REPUTATION

With a second wave of new earwigs on the way, Hebda said there are pros and cons to keeping the critters around.

“They’re good and they’re bad. They’re good because they clean up rotting vegetation, organics like that, so they’re tremendous that way,” he said. “They’re also good because at the same time they’re predatory, they feed on soft-body insects.”

“The problem is they also go for soft-leaved vegetation, so people are seeing damage to soft-leafed flowers, things like lettuce for example.”

European earwigs are a nocturnal insect, so they’re often seen in larger numbers during the night. In the day they’re mostly hiding in dark locations like under leaves or in cracks and crevasses.

Although the bug may look menacing, Hebda said they are harmless.

“They don’t crawl into ears,” he said. “They don’t bite. What happens is if people interact with them, if they feel threatened, they may use those pinchers to try and pinch you to go away.”

Hebda said despite the bad reputation many earwigs get, there is one important thing to keep in mind:

“They’re just trying to make a living, none of them are setting out there to cause us trouble or pain or anything like that.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Natalie Lombard.