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Type: Correspondence
Published: 2021-01-28
Page range: 15–17
Abstract views: 481
PDF downloaded: 2

First record of the desert earwig Forficula lucasi Dohrn, 1865 (Dermaptera: Forficulidae) in Greece: A hitchhiker among the refugees or a seldom encounter?

Department of Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Department of Biology and Ecology, University of Ostrava, Chittussiho 10, CZ-710 00 Ostrava, Czechia
Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Sylvius Laboratory, Sylviusweg 72, 2333 BE, Leiden, The Netherlands Naturalis Biodiversity Center, PO Box 9517, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

Abstract

The relatively small order Dermaptera (commonly called “earwigs”) is comprised of more than 1900 described species mainly distributed in the Afrotropics, Southeastern Asia and South America, while a small number of species occur in the warmer temperate regions of North America, Europe, Asia and Australia (Hudson 1973; Popham 2000; Haas et al. 2011). In the Balkans and Turkey, this insect order is understudied and knowledge about the distribution and ecology of the earwig fauna is scattered (Haas & Henderickx 2002; Anlaş et al. 2010; Anlaş & Kočárek 2012; Muranyi 2013; Haas 2015). In Greece 16 species have been recorded so far (Haas 2015, 2018), showing greater diversity than other countries in the Balkans (Muranyi 2013). From the poorly studied North Aegean Islands, four earwig species are reported (Haas 2015), namely Anisolabis maritima (Bonelli, 1832), Forficula auricularia Linnaeus, 1758, F. lurida Fischer, 1853 and Labidura riparia (Pallas, 1773).

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