Earwig

Labia curvicauda (Motschulsky)

Forficesila curvicauda Motschulsky, 1863. p. 2 [Ceylon].

Labia curvicauda (Motschulsky), Burr, 1911b, p. 56. —Rehn and Hebard, 1917, p. 640.

Recorded from Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and St. Vincent in the West Indies, but not previously recorded from Dominica.

LENGTH.—Body 4–5 mm, forceps 0.5–0.75 mm. A small depressed species, head, pronotum, elytra, and wings blackish, rather shining; legs yellowish, femora darkened basally; abdomen and forceps reddish; sometimes the pronotum is yellow. Head cordiform, posterior margin concave, antennal segments moniliform; pronotum small, much narrower, than head, quadrate; elytra and wings almost always fully developed, with pale pubescence; legs short; abdominal tergites punctured and pubescent. Each branch of male forceps short, trigonal and broad at base, the broad part forming a large tooth; distal part of branch cylindrical and curved; pygidium large and transverse; forceps of female with branches contiguous, except at extreme base, branches very broad at base, evenly narrowed distally; pygidium small and rounded.

MATERIAL.—Dominica, S. Chiltern, 25 March 1964, Dale F. Bray, I ; Belle Fille River, 3 miles southwest of Castle Bruce, 400 ft, 1 January 1965, R. T. Bell, 1 ; Clarke Hall, 1–10 and 11–20 November 1965, W. W. Wirth, 2 , 1 .

WORLD DISTRIBUTION.—Occurs in all faunal Regions, and is almost circumtropical in distribution. It is an adventive in many countries but is restricted to tropical or subtropical climates, in which conditions it can become established. It extends from Brazil as far north as Florida on the mainland of America.