Overview
This large, cosmopolitan family is poorly represented in Australia by a single subfamily,
Forficulinae
.
Description
All known species are winged as adults, brownish in colour and range from 15-25 mm long.
Doru
and
Elaunon
have the abdomen parallel in outline, and the pygidium of
Doru
bears a spine.
Forficula
, represented by two species, has the abdomen broadest in the middle and the forceps depressed and basally dilated.
F.
auricularia
, the European earwig, now dispersed virtually world-wide in temperate regions, can be a nuisance in gardens.