Beautiful white earwig

[JRsbugs]

Bruce, I found them under a large plastic pot which was under the edge of my big Horse Chestnut tree. I have a long row of pots there, it's usually damp and in mostly shade with leaves composted on the ground. The pot had a deep raised area underneath so I was able to replace it without disturbing them.

If you enlarge the pic you can see some of the larvae developing in the eggs, the egg at the top shows it well.

[Hedera]

That's very interesting. I see you took the pic in April - do they breed all the year round? Been turning all my pots up!

[JRsbugs]

I don't know if they breed all year round, I imagine they breed in spring to give the young a chance to mature before winter.

I found a batch of very small white babies under a pot once but didn't have my camera with me, and I didn't want to disturb them too much as they were scattering so I didn't get a photo.

[JRsbugs]

The answer is on the Wiki link Bruce gave above:

Earwigs live for about a year from hatching. They start mating in the autumn, and can be found together in the autumn and winter. The male and female will live in a chamber in debris, crevices, or soil 2.5 mm deep. After mating, the sperm may remain in the female for months before the eggs are fertilized. From midwinter to early spring, the male will leave, or be driven out by the female. Afterward the female will begin to lay 20 to 80 pearly white eggs in 2 days.

I would have thought they lived longer than a year!