Another species lost

Another species lost: The world’s biggest earwig has been declared extinct This earwig was the only one that is capable of growing up to three inches in length. Known as the St. Helena giant earwig, this creature will now only be found in legends. The loss of the big creepy-crawler will obviously not cause many to mourn; however, it will contribute to the sadness of Etymologists around the world, as the insect world has lost one of its biggest creatures.

The St. Helena earwig, which was indigenous to the island of St. Helena, located in the South Atlantic Ocean had recently been declared to be officially extinct by the reports of mongabay.com. This earwig was the world’s largest and could grow up to three inches in length. It was initially described by Johan Christian Fabricius, a Danish scientist, in the year 1798. The last time that it was seen alive was in 1967, however, its dead body parts were still found on occasions until the last year, when its traces had started to become invisible too.

The species is actually a very charismatic, large and an iconic creature on the island. While there is still a slight possibility that the creature might exist in a remote location such as a cave or the top of a tree, however, the ecological balance as noted by these etymologists suggests otherwise. They hence claim that the creature is highly likely dead.

These creatures had a unique set of formidable pincers, which used to be a distinguishing factor for the creature. It used to capture the prey and defend itself using these pincers. It did seem as if they could do some heavy damage if they pinched a human. Besides their interesting appearance, the females of the specie had been known for being lovely mothers, which is a quality very rarely found in insects (especially non-social ones). This is because these creatures clean their eggs from time to time and are also known for helping the little ones to hatch out of the eggs. The gigantic mothers also rear their offspring by feeding them and regulating their food intake. The little ones also sleep beneath their mothers to ensure that the offspring remains protected and warm.

The name of the earwigs comes from the myth that the earwigs find human ears so that they can burrow into them to the human brain and then lay their eggs there. The folk used to go on in the early times of their discovery. It is known that the species have become extinct because of the loss of habitat and heavier predation by the newly introduced rodents and centipedes in the area.

Related Article: http://www.researchomatic.com/New-Research/Exotic-Species-and-Their-Impacts-to-theEnvironment-17042.html