Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

First up are European earwigs, Forficula Auricularia, which become exceedingly common in the yard during late summer. No, they don’t crawl into peoples ears, and those pincers in the rear can’t pinch with any force. At least not in this species. I did some perusal about earwigs and learned that the term “earwig” is supposed to be about their remarkable hind wings that are covered by the semi-hard front wings. The hind wings are artfully folded away, and when they are unfolded, they resemble the human ear. Here are some slow-motion clips of the remarkable hind wings of earwigs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH2qqt-SNy8 I have never seen one unfold their wings, let alone fly.
What about those large rear pincers? They are highly modified cerci appendages that many insects have. In earwigs, the cerci are used in defense (where it seems more of a bluff), but also males use them in mating, and they can also use them to hold prey. Earwigs are omnivores, and are not above taking small soil arthropods.
Anyway, the first picture is of two males. I put the wiggly things together onto a foam rubber plug to contain them, and the huddled nicely together. The pincers come in different sizes in males, and I don’t know why.
European earwigs by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

The next picture is a female. Their pincers are always small.
Earwigs have a lovely matte texture, so its pretty easy to get pleasingly soft highlights with a diffused flash.
European earwig by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

Next up are two ichneumon wasps. These grow up as parasites on other arthropods, generally on insects or spiders. The first one is Megarhyssa macrurus. She turned up in the yard one day and was unable to fly for some reason. The super long ovipositer hanging off the rear is used to drill into dead wood to lay eggs in sawfly larvae.
Ichneumon wasp. by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

The other ichneumon was a bit of a thrill for me since it is such a stunning insect with those metallic blue wings. This large ichneumon is in the genus Trogus, and there are a couple similar species. I only occasionally see them, but they are always super alert and fly away when I even look at them. But this one was concentrating on rapidly scouring a particular area. It would not let me get into macro lens range, but I could stand back and use the long lens on it for this heavily cropped picture. Ichneumons of this group parasitize swallowtail caterpillars.
Big ichneumon wasp by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

The caterpillar here is unknown to me. It is possibly not an inchworm, despite its appearance, as there are at least two other families with cats that have that ‘look’. I should send this one off to BugGuide.
Caterpillar by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

The moth in the next picture is a big underwing moth that landed right in front of me while I was crossing a bridge. Many species are hard to tell apart, but this one sure does look like the darling underwing, Catocala cara. If so, its hind wings are brilliantly marked in a deep red-orange.
Underwing moth by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

The spider shown next is no doubt the nursery web aka fishing spider, Dolomedes tenebrosus. I spotted her from quite a way off because these things are big. Members of this group are called nursery web spiders because females guard their young in a nursery at the top of plant, often near water. Fishing spiders stay near water and will even hunt for prey on it.
Nursery web spider by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

Last up is a scene taken with the Opteka wide angle macro lens. I always carry that lens around when out with the cameras in case a scene like this turns up. The picture is a combination of two pictures taken at different shutter speeds and then blended together thru layer masks. One was to illuminate the foreground with a flash and the other was a longer exposure for the background.
Mushroom wide angle macro by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

Thank you for looking!

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Great photos and article. The earwigs have been out in force here for a month now. I did not know they could fly, as I've never seen on do so. Thanks for posting.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Mark, another educational and stellar series worthy of a tip-of-the-hat!

raymondh Loc: Walker, MI

Thanks for sharing!

randave2001 Loc: Richmond

Great set. Really like the explanations.

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

Super set!

sirvive Loc: South Louisiana

Nice images with some educational lagniappe. thanks

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Thanks everybody!

EnglishBrenda Loc: Kent, England

Another post from you with very well made images and write ups to match. Thanks.

rodolini

Thanks for posting! Great video, really interesting

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Beautiful set Mark, I always appreciate your naritives

cyan Loc: Northern NJ

I always wondered why they were called earwigs. Love them! I love the photos, not the earwigs. They're wonderful!

caryl

cyan Loc: Northern NJ

And as I watched that video I was amazed! I never knew earwigs could fly!

caryl

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Great set, Mark.