LIBRARY

CHAPTER Xln
10. Order DERMAPTERA Leach 1815 1
(Der-map'te-ra, from the Greek O€P/Ut. skin, + 71"TEpa, wings;
referring to the texture of the tegmina and bases of the wings.)
German, Ohrwiirmer. French, Forficules, Perce-oreilles.
Earwigs, Arixenids.
Small to medium-sized, elongate, smooth, tough, chitinous insects with biting mouth
parts; simple metamorphosis; with or without short truncate tegmina which conceal
all but the tips of the much-folded wings; body terminating in a llair of weak or strong,
hairy, burnished, smooth pincers (Ir forceps.
External
Size - medium.
Shape - elongate, compressed dorsally.
Exoskeleton - normally smooth. shining,
leathery, and elastic with hard parts.
Sometimes pubescent.
Head - prognathous, small, rounded or
broad, with Y-shaped epicranial suture.
Eyes - compound eyes and ocelli well
developed, vestigial, or wanting; ocelli
usually vestigial or absent.
Mouth parts - similar to those of the
ORTHOPTERA. Labium, ligula, and
superlingure bUobed: maxillary palpi
five-segmented; labial palpi threesegmented.
Thorax - well developed; pronotum large;
mesonotum fused with first abdominal
segment.
Tegmina and wings - absent, vestigial,
or functional.
Tegmina - shorter than abdomen, truncate,
leathery, veinless.
Wings - semicircular. folded fan-like
longitudinally and twice transversely;
numerous weaJc veins.
ANATOMICAL CHARACTERS
Internal
Digestive System.
Alimentary Canal -'- (JJsophagus -long;
crop - almost globular; gizzard -
tubular; mid-intestine - straight or
with one or two coils, without enteric
CfEca: Malpighian tubules - eight to
20, usually arranged in two groups;
hind intestine - with partial or complete
spiral and with six rectal papt'tlre
(see also ORTHOPTERA).
Circulatory System. Similar to ORTHOP­
TERA. A dorsal chambered vessel
serves to force the blood forward to the
head.
Respiratory System.
Elaborate tracheal system.
Spiracles -10 pairs: two thoracic and
eight abdominal.
Nervous System.
Cephalic ganglia - two.
Thoracic ganglia - three.
Abdominal ganglia - six.
1 The term DERMAPTERA was first employed by Carl DeGeer in 1773 for the true bugs.
W. E. Leach and Wm. Kirby in 1815 were the fu:sl to apply it to the earwigs. A. M. C. Dumerit
coined the name LABIDOURES (LABIDURA) for them in 1806, and J. O. Westwood
erected the order EUPLEXOPTERA for them in 1839. For many years they were considered
as a family. FORFICULIDlE, of the ORTHOPTERA.
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