List of Dermapterans of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is a tropical island situated close to the southern tip of India. The invertebrate fauna is as large as it is common to other regions of the world. There are about 2 million species of arthropods found in the world, and still it is counting. So many new species are discover up to this time also. So it is very complicated and difficult to summarize the exact number of species found within a certain region.
The following list is about Earwigs recorded in Sri Lanka.
Earwig
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Dermaptera
Earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera and are found throughout the Americas, Africa, Eurasia, Australia and New Zealand. With about 2,000 species[1] in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cerci, a pair of forceps-like pincers on their abdomen, and membranous wings folded underneath short forewings, hence the scientific order name, "skin wings." Some groups are tiny parasites on mammals and lack the typical pincers. Earwigs rarely use their flying ability.
Earwigs are mostly nocturnal and often hide in small, moist crevices during the day, and are active at night, feeding on a wide variety of insects and plants. Damage to foliage, flowers, and various crops is commonly blamed on earwigs, especially the common earwig Forficula auricularia. Dermaptera is relatively small insect order compared to the other orders of Insecta, with only about 2,000 species, 3 suborders and 15 families in it.[2]
The following list provide the earwigs currently identified in Sri Lanka. The exact diversity and their biology is well studied within Sri Lanka due to the major contributions by Malcolm Burr in 1901 and Alan Brindle in 1977. According to checklist by Steinmann in 1989, 71 species of earwigs, [3] included to 11 families and 21 genera.[4][5]
Endemic species are denoted as E.
Family: Anisolabididae
- Anisolabis greeni
- Anisolabis kudagae
- Epilandex burri
- Euborellia annulipes
- Euborellia stali
- Gonolabis electa
- Geracodes brincki
- Platylabia major
Family: Apachyidae
- Dendroiketes corticinus
Family: Chelisochidae - Black earwigs
Family: Diplatyidae
- Diplatys fletcheri
- Diplatys greeni
- Diplatys incisus
- Diplatys porpinquus
Family: Forficulidae
- Cordax ceylonicus
- Forficula auricularia
- Hypurgus humeralis
- Obelura dohertyi
Family: Labiduridae - Striped earwigs
- Labidura japonica
- Labidura riparia
- Nala lividipes
Family: Labiidae - Little earwigs
- Labia curvicauda
- Labia minor
- Paralabella curvicauda
- Paralabella rehni
- Spirolabia pilicornis
Family: Pygidicranidae
- Cranopygia nietneri
- Cranopygia parva
- Cranopygia pluto
- Echinosoma parvulum
- Echinosoma trilineatum
- Epicranopygia picta
Family: Spongiphoridae
- Chaetospania anderssoni
- Chaetospania foliata
- Chaetospania thoracica
- Irdex ceylonensis
- Parabella fruehstorferi
- Paralabellula rotundifrons
- Spongovostox mucronatus
- Spongovostox semiflavus
- Spongovostox tripunctatus
- Syntonus neolobophoroides
References
- ↑ Zhang, Z.-Q. (2011). "Phylum Arthropoda von Siebold, 1848 In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3148: 99–103.
- ↑ Jarvis, KJ; F Haas; MF Whiting (2004). "A phylogeny of earwigs (Insecta: Dermaptera) based on molecular and morphological evidence: reconsidering the classification of Dermaptera" (PDF). Systematic Entomology. 30: 1–12. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2004.00276.x.
- ↑ Wijesekara, Anura and Wijesinghe, D.P. "HISTORY OF INSECT COLLECTION AND A REVIEW OF INSECT DIVERSITY IN SRI LANKA". Ceylon Journal of Science. p. 59. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
- ↑ "Checklist of Dermaptera". insectoid.info. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
- ↑ Beron, Petar. "Dermaptera (Insecta), identified by A. Brindle and preserved in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History (Sofia)" (PDF). Historia naturalis bulgarica. Retrieved 7 June 2016.