Quoddy Nature Notes – Earwigs
Emily’s Secret
Earwigs are not talked about in genteel company. Earwigs are associated with garbage and trash, and because of their ugly, dark countenance and menacing pincers they are feared and despised. An ancient myth was that earwigs would sneak into a person’s ear, bore into the brain and set up housekeeping. In modern times if you google ‘earwig’ you will find a lot web sites of exterminators and pest management companies willing to sell you the latest chemical to eradicate these dastardly earwigs, but in among these are some sites with a little scientific bent that have conflicting information about earwigs. I dug into a lot of these and much other literature and even acquired an earwig, and named her ‘Emily’, and tried to find out more. Even though Emily’s secrets may not be as flashy as Victoria’s, I think Emily is pretty neat.
Here in the Quoddy region we probably have three species of earwigs: the European, Forficula auricularia; the Spinetailed, Doru aculeate; and the Seaside, Anisolabris maritime. Of these the rarest is the Spinetailed, which is the only native earwig in the group and is found primarily in swamps; the largest is the Seaside, which may grow over an inch long and is wingless; and the commonest is the European. Emily is a female European earwig, and I can tell the gender by her relatively straight pincers (cerci). Guy earwigs have curved pincers. Her ancestors were first recorded in the state of Washington in 1907, and probably were brought here to the new world in some shipping crates or something associated with agricultural products. Emily probably started her life in Perry, where I got her. Her mother, after hibernating, laid about 30 eggs in a nest a few inches down in the dirt in April or May of this year and carefully watched over the eggs keeping them clean of any infectious fungi and protecting them from all predators. Emily and her siblings hatched in about a month depending on the temperature, and her mother continued to look after them. This type of maternal care is very rare in insects. Little by little the young earwigs foraged further from the nest until finally they were on their own, and Emily’s mom finished her programmed lifespan. Earwigs can eat almost any type of plant, from pollen to lichens to rotten fruit, but they are also carnivorous and will eat things like aphids, fleas, ants and cinch bugs, but not ear wax. By August Emily was full grown, possibly mated in September and, according to the literature, should have started thinking about hibernating before October and following her mother’s footsteps for a new generation.
Even though she has wings, Emily does all of her long distant traveling by hitching a ride on something. She can fly, but not very well and needs to take off from a high place. The mechanics of an earwig’s flight procedure is pretty amazing. Emily would have to bend her cerci back and unfold her very fragile rear wings and actually cock them in place. Each fold on her wings (and there are upwards of 40 folds on each wing) is spring loaded with an elastic material called resilin and the unfolded wing is sort of stable so that she can fly. After her flight there is a little ‘flick’ and the wings fold up and hide under their little covers. Just a minute! Am I supposed to believe that this teeny bug with pincers on her butt can use these to unfold something on her back about seven times more complicated than and one ten-thousandth the size of the average road map? And after this is spread out the insect can use it for flight? And this miniature, complicated road map then magically folds up and stows away with no excess wrinkles, etc, controlled by no nerves, hooks or latches, with a ‘flick’? What is this ‘flick’?
Aw, come on Emily, don’t be shy. Tell me how you do this stuff. Whisper what really happens in my ear…No! Wait! Emily! EMILY!!!
Quoddy Nature Notes – Snowberry
The colors are fading fast in the Quoddy region. A few rugged Hawksbeards are still hanging onto their little yellow dandelion-like flowers, and the Winterberry adds a red hue to some of our swamps and roadsides, but mostly we have the dark grays of the trunks of trees and the greens of our mosses, ferns (most of them), conifers (all except the Hackmatack) and grass. One mysterious plant with berries that don’t have any color (or, more correctly, has all of them), and is showing its fruit now, is the Snowberry. The Snowberry (AKA Corpse Berry, Snake Berry, Wax Berry, White Coralberry) Symphoricarpos albus, is mysterious, especially to me, because of the confusion in the references. I saw a patch of Snowberry in Pembroke (I had driven by it for over 20 years and Linda finally pointed it out to me) and decided to find out more about this plant. According to most references our plants in this area are the introduced western variety S.albus var. laevigatus. Supposedly there is a Snowberry that was native to the Eastern slope of the Rockies S.albus var. albus. The USDA maps list that variety as being in New Brunswick and all of New England except for Maine and New Hampshire. I haven’t determined the Pembroke variety, but the owner of the patch said it was there before the old house on the site was torn down.
According to the literature, when Jefferson sent out the Lewis and Clark expedition on the journey of discovery to the west coast, one of the plants they sent back was the western Snowberry. Jefferson was pleased with the plant and sent some seeds and cuttings to friends and botanists in Europe. They apparently were impressed and by 1817 Snowberry was grown in England, France and many other parts of Europe. I can’t understand why. It is considered a nuisance in many of the western cattle ranches as it takes up space and nutrients destined for cattle feed. The flowers are cute and coral colored, hence one of the names, but not super exciting. The berries are sort of weird looking, not good eating, as they are very bitter, and birds will eat them only if nothing else is available. What’s the attraction? Snowberry apparently wasn’t common enough around here and I found no references of uses by the Native Americans on the East coast. In the Pacific Northwest, however, Native Americans would gather a bunch of Snowberries and squash them up in a big container and dump the juice in a pond or stream to stun or kill the fish for easier harvesting. A similar concoction, but very diluted, was used for an upset stomach, and a stronger dose was used to relieve constipation. Snowberry was also used, but not very effectively, in place of soap. I don’t know if the pioneers of Jefferson’s time used these characteristics of Snowberry or not. Maybe they used them as we do now, to stabilize a bank with their extensive root system or make a hedge with a tolerable plant with strange looking berries that was different from their neighbor’s hedge. That sounds like a good reason. People will probably remember the old ditty that goes something like: Berries red, have no dread/ Berries white, leave with fright! I think I’ll make a Corpse berry hedge.
November, 2009
Sunday, November 15, Topsham (Map 6)
From about noon on Saturday till the wee hours of Sunday morning over 5″ of rain fell here in Southern Maine do to the remains of Hurricane Ida passing through. On Sunday morning I took a walk or should I say splash along some of the trails of the Cathance River Preserve. What are normally a series of small falls and cascades were now a raging torrent. Many parts of the trail along the river bank were underwater which resulted in a bit of bushwhacking. SY
Thursday, November 5 Rangeley (Map 28)
I was walking in the woods near Rangeley, when I saw this large bird perched on the lower limb of a spruce. I couldn’t immediately tell what it was but the way it was sitting I had a feeling it was an owl. It had it’s back towards me and was intently watching the grass. As I raised my camera to get a picture, it turned towards me. A Great Gray Owl! Bright yellow eyes, that very distinctive face and gray. It was one of those what do I do know, did I really see what I think I saw. And no, I didn’t get a picture.
I have been seeing more boreal birds lately, a northern shrike, more snow buntings. Even the gray jays are getting more friendly. KB
Gray jays are friendly, inquisitive birds.
Saturday, November 7 Topsham (Map 6)
Went and checked on my trail camera this morning which is set up on a nature preserve here in town. Being hunting season this is the only place I feel safe at coming and going this time of year. A snowshoe hare passed by and is just starting to change color. It will be fun in the coming weeks to watch this change take place. Also from time to time a few deer came and went but most of the pictures were blurry as they were on the move and not very photogenic. They appeared to be a doe with two yearlings. SY
Editor’s Column
Robin’s Thoughts & Rambles
Robin Follette, Editor/Publisher
Hello!
November 29
I’m still enjoying November’s warmer than average temperatures. I have to be sure to tip balsam for wreaths first thing in the morning so that the brush snaps easily in the cold. The heater hasn’t yet been on in the seedling house where I make wreaths.
Some of the numbered townships have been given regular names. If you happen to know any of them will you please tell me? I want to keep my Gazetteer up to date so that map numbers here are up to date.
KB in Rangelely said he had 3″ of snow on the ground yesterday. We’ve had flurries in Talmadge but no accumulation. The ground is crunchy under foot some mornings but thawed by mid morning. My bird feeding station is very quiet this fall. I know what the blue jays are up to but where are the rest of the birds normally at my feeder? The blue jays are flying in and out of the barn to eat the ducks’ food. If the bin is empty I know long before the ducks come up from the pond to eat because the blue jays sit outside the door in the cherry trees and scream. And I oblige. I’ve stopped in the middle of projects to get a bucket of food and refill the bin.
Our wildlife-filled summer of bears and moose has faded into an uneventful fall. The game cam has been strapped to an apple tree for about a month. We have three does and three bucks coming in to eat during the night. The bucks are a spike horn, a crotch horn and a ten point. Since the rut started 10 days ago we see less and less of the deer. Their patterns have changed and they have something other than apples on their mind. We’re finding scrapes, hookings and pawings in areas we hadn’t seen tracks in two weeks ago. I haven’t seen a rabbit and there’s only one red squirrel around to torment the dogs. The squirrel stays safely on the other side of the road away from the dogs. I bet he’s been chased before!
It’s still very slow at Maine Nature News. It seems like there’s not a lot going on in nature right now but that can’t be true. I’m outside a lot but not seeing anything reportable. What’s going on in your part of Maine?
Have a good week!
Robin Follette
Editor/Publisher
November 15
The weather has been perfect for outdoor work. Leaves have been raked and added to the garden, the firewood is in and the garlic is planted. It’s nice to have time to enjoy being outside without having to bundle up. That will come soon enough.
We’ve been watching deer on the farm via the game cam. We seem to have five deer here on a regular basis. They’re cleaning up under the apple trees and in the garden during the night. They’ve “pruned” the raspberries we grow and favor bok choi. The red cabbage I switched to this year don’t meet their approval. I seldom see the deer but I like knowing they’re here.
Have a good week!
Robin Follette, Editor/Publisher
Maine Nature News
