Labidura herculeana Fabricius, 1798
St. Helena giant earwig, Saint Helena giant earwig, St. Helena striped earwig, Giant earwig
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonyms: Labidura riparia herculeana (Fabricius, 1798); Labidura loveridgei Zeuner, 1962
Taxonomic history
"Originally described as a full species, this taxon was downgraded to a subspecies of L. riparia by Kirby (1904). The taxon was reinstated as a valid species by Brindle (1970) and synonymised with L. loveridgei Zeuner, 1962 which had been described from subfossil forceps."
(Pryce & White, 2014b)
Conservation Status
Extinct (Pryce & White, 2014a,b)
Last record: 1965 (Anonymous, 1985); 24 May 1967 (Pryce & White, 2014a,b [as May 1967]; source)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution & Habitat
St. Helena
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
A total of 40 specimens were collected between 1965 and 1967 (Miles, 2015:16).
Manchester Museum (UK)
MMUE F3233.1871 (male) (Logunov, 2010; Miles, 2015:16)
MMUE F3233.1872 (female) (Logunov, 2010; Miles, 2015:16)
Media
For photos of preserved St. Helena giant earwings see (Haas, 2006; Logunov, 2010; Miles, 2015:16).
References
Original scientific description:
Fabricius, J. C. (1798). Supplementum entomologiae systematicae. - pp. [1-3], 1-572. Hafniae. (Proft & Storch).
Other references:
Albouy, V. and Caussanel, C. (1990). Dermaptères ou Perce-oreilles [Dermaptera or earwigs]. Faune de France, 75: 245 pp.
Allen, Barbara. (Due May 2025). Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds: Stories of Extinction. Reaktion Books. 248 pp, 38 figs.
America, S. (1999). 15: St Helena. Biodiversity: the UK Overseas Territories, 101.
Anderson, Robert S. et al. (2002). Insects and Spiders of the World, volume 4. Tarrytown, New York: Marshall Cavendish. 259 pp. [Google Preview]
Anonymous. (1985). Choosing the 24 most Endangered Species. Species Survival Commission Newsletter 5: 17-23.
Ashmole, Philip and Ashmole, Myrtle. (2000). St. Helena and Ascension Island: a natural history. Nelson, Oswestry. 492 pp.
Ashmole, Philip, and, Ashmole, Myrtle. (2004a). The invertebrates of Prosperous Bay Plain, St Helena: A survey, by Philip and Myrtle Ashmole, September – December 2003. Commissioned by the St Helena Government and financed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Peebles, Scotland: Kidston Mill.
Ashmole, Philip, and, Ashmole, Myrtle. (2004b). Guide to Invertebrates of Prosperous Bay Plain, St Helena and Illustrated account of species found on the Eastern Arid Area (EAA), including Prosperous Bay Plain, Holdfast Tom and Horse Point Plain. Peebles, Scotland: Kidston Mill. 92 pp. [automatic download]
Brindle, A. (1970). Dermaptera. In: Basilewsky, P. (ed.). La faune terrestre de l'île de Sainte-Hélène. Première partie. Annales du Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Zoologie. 181: 211-227.
Brindle, A. (1981). The types of Dermaptera described by Fabricius. Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation 93(1): 14-16.
Burr, M. (1911). Dermaptera. Genera Insectorum 122: 1-112.
Haas, Fabian. (2006). The Giant Earwig of St. Helena - The Dodo of the Dermaptera. Available at: https://www.earwigs-online.de/Lherculeana/Lherculeana.html
Kirby, W. F. (1904). A synonymic catalogue of Orthoptera. London: Taylor & Francis.
Leleup, N. (1970). La faune terrestre de l‘ile de Sainte-Helene (Première partie). 1. - Geographie et Climatologie. Annales du Musee Royal de l'Afrique Centrale Tervuren, Series no 8, Sciences Zoologiques, 181: 8-73.
Logunov, Dmitri V. (2010). The Manchester Museum’s entomological collections. Antenna 34: 163-167.
Miles, Claire. (2015). The Earwig Collection (Dermaptera) of the Manchester Museum, UK, with a complete type catalogue. European Journal of Taxonomy 141: 1-138 [16-17]. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2015.141
Pryce, David. (2019). David Pryce Invertebrate Surveys: Prosperous Bay Plain Invertebrate Survey 2018-19. Unpublished report.
Pryce, D. and White, L. (2014a). Labidura herculeana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 25 November 2014.
Pryce, D. and White, L. (2014b). Labidura herculeana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T11073A21425735. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T11073A21425735.en. Accessed on 01 July 2022.
Steinmann, H. (1989). Dermaptera: Catadermaptera II. Das Tierreich, 105: 505 pp.
Zeuner, F. E. (1962). A subfossil giant Dermapteron from St. Helena. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 138(4): 651-653. [Abstract]
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/1768/wanted-alive-helena-giant-earwig