It’s funny how certain insects – ladybugs, for instance – seem at least benign if not downright cute, while other insects evoke instant revulsion and an attack of the heebie jeebies. Earwigs definitely fall into the latter category. That’s partly due to the name, which conjures up nightmarish visions of six-legged penetration of one’s ear canal. But it’s also due to the earwig’s appearance with its devilishly forked pincer tail. The Fijian variety of earwig is even higher on the creepy scale because it’s black, it’s fast, it will fly right at you, and sometimes when it scampers along it raises its tail and bends it back over like a scorpion.
As far as I know they’ve never bitten us, and are really just interested in fruit. In fact, they are also known here by the more affable name “banana bug,” and we do indeed see them in large numbers on the banana trees. But if one lands on Deborah it immediately provokes what we call her Saint Vitus’ Dance, accompanied by sufficient unintelligible screeching and wailing to convince any bystanders that she is experiencing either spontaneous combustion or an epileptic seizure. Fortunately there are seldom any bystanders apart from myself as she often pulls off her dress in an attempt to expose the offending earwig.
Earwig in pseudo-scorpion mode
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