Abstract
The European earwig, Forficula auricularia, is a cosmopolitan insect endemic to Europe, West Asia and North Africa, which has invaded many temperate regions of the world including Australia and New Zealand. F. auricularia has been shown to be a complex of morphologically identical, reproductively isolated lineages that possess two distinct clades of mitochondrial DNA. Entomological collection data, historical literature and further field collections were used to develop a greater understanding of Australian F. auricularia’s invasion biology and its current distribution. Genetic analysis of F. auricularia collected from Australia and New Zealand using two mitochondrial genes (COI and a fragment overlapping parts of the COI -COII genes) was also undertaken. To identify the possible source populations of the Australasian invasion these sequences were compared to those from 16 locations within Britain and continental Europe. All Australasian populations were shown to be of the clade B lineage. Tasmanian and New Zealand populations consist of a single subclade comprised of only 4 and 1 haplotypes respectively. The Australian mainland populations also contained a second subclade consisting of up to 11 haplotypes indicating that multiple introductions possibly occurred on the Australian mainland. Comparison of mitochondrial genomes from Australasian and European populations showed the Australian mainland subclade to be most closely related to Portuguese haplotypes, and the Tasmanian and New Zealand clade closely related to those in Brittany, France. No European haplotypes perfectly matched the Australasian sequences. Therefore, the original source populations are still to be identified with harbours on the Iberian Peninsula’s western coast and those on the English Channel likely candidate areas.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Australian Town and Country Journal (1889) Orchard and fruit garden. Sydney, NSW. 2nd Feburary, p 21. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71114648. Accessed 22nd May 2012
Bach J (1976) A maritime history of Australia. Thomas Nelson (Australia) Limited, Melbourne
BDCP (2008) Bay-Delta Conservation Plan - Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus). Accessed 25th March 2009
Bell PJ (1998) Ptunarra Brown Butterfly Recovery Plan 1998-2003. http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/PtunarraBRecPlan.pdf. Accessed 20th June 2016
Capinha C, Essl F, Seebens H, Moser D, Pereira H (2015) The dispersal of alien species redefines biogeography in the Anthropocene. Science 348:1248–1251. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa8913
Cassey P, Blackburn TM, Sol S, Duncan RP, Lockwood JL (2004) Global patterns of introduction effort and establishment success in birds. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 271:S405–S408
Duncan R (2016) How propagule size and environmental suitability jointly determine establishment success: a test using dung beetle introductions. Biol Invasions 18:985–996. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1083-8
Empire (1854) Shipping Intelligence. Sydney. 12th October, p 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60198679. Accessed 7th March 2017
Fu YX, Li WH (1993) Statistical tests for neutrality of mutations. Genetics 133:693–709
Fulton BB (1924) The European earwig. Or Agric Coll Exp Stn Bull 207:1–29
Gordon SC, Cormack MR, Hackett CA (1997) Arthropod contamination of red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) harvested by machine in Scotland. J Hortic Sci 72:677–685
Great Britain Colonial Office (1869) Reports showing the present state of Her Majesty’s colonial possessions, vol 2. Great Britain Colonial Office, London
Great Britain Colonial Office (1949) The past and present state of Her Majesty’s colonial possessions, vol 2. Great Britain Colonial Office, London
Guillet S, Guiller A, Deunff J, Vancassel M (2000a) Analysis of a contact zone in the Forficula auricularia L. (Dermaptera: Forficulidae) species complex in the Pyrenean Mountains. Heredity 85:444–449
Guillet S, Josselin N, Vancassel M (2000b) Multiple introductions of the Forficula auricularia species complex (Dermaptera: Forficulidae) in eastern North America. Can Entomol 132:49–57
Gurney WB (1934) Records of some new insect pests. Agric Gaz N S W 45:452–454
Kehrli P, Karp J, Burdet JP, Deneulin P, Danthe E, Lorenzini F, Linder C (2012) Impact of processed earwigs and their faeces on the aroma and taste of ‘Chasselas’ and ‘Pinot Noir’ wines. Vitis 51:87–93
Lach L, Thomas ML (2008) Invasive ants in Australia: documented and potential ecological consequences. Aust J Entomol 47:275–288. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-6055.2008.00659.x
Lamb RJ, Wellington WG (1975) Life history and population characteristics of the European earwig, Forficula auricularia (Dermaptera: Forficulidae), at Vancouver, British Columbia. Can Entomol 107:819–824
Lea AM (1903) Remedies for insect and fungus pests of the orchard and farm 2edn. Government Printer, Hobart
Liebhold AM, Tobin PC (2008) Population ecology of insect invasions and their management. Annu Rev Entomol 53:387–408
Liverpool Herald (1901) Naturalist—Common or Garden Earwig. Liverpool, NSW. 5th January, p 9. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37257515. Accessed 22nd May 2012
Lockwood JL, Cassey P, Blackburn TM (2009) The more you introduce the more you get: the role of colonization pressure and propagule pressure in invasion ecology. Divers Distrib 15:904–910. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2009.00594.x
Matheson SR (2000) Trade. Tasmanian year book, 27th edn. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Hobart, pp 279–292
Mattoni RHT (1998) The endangered El Segundo Blue Butterfly. UCLA. Accessed 25th April
O’Dwyer C, Hadden S, Arnold A (2004) Action Statement No.106 Golden Sun Moth (Synemom plana). http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/CA256F310024B628/0/6277E110F4C5BA95CA2570ED00017CA9/$File/106+Golden+Sun+Moth+2000.pdf. Accessed 23rd April 2008
Quarrell SR, Davies NW, Walker PW, Corkrey R, Smith JA, Allen GR (2016) Identification of the putative aggregation pheromone components emitted by the European earwig, Forficula auricularia. Chemoecology 26:173–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-016-0216-y
Rentz DC, Kevan DK (1991) Dermaptera. Insects of Australia, vol 1. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, pp 360–368
Rozas J, Sanchez-DelBarrio J, Messeguer X, Rozas R (2003) DnaSP, DNA polymorphism analyses by the coalescent and other methods. Bioinformatics 19:2496–2497. https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851994758.0139
Schmid-Hempel P, Schmid-Hempel R, Brunner PC, Seeman OD, Allen GR (2007) Invasion success of the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, despite a drastic genetic bottleneck. Heredity 99:414–422. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.hdy.6801017
Snyder WE, Evans EW (2006) Ecological effects of invasive arthropod generalist predators. In: Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics, vol 37. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics. pp 95–122. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.37.091305.110107
South Australian Register (1841) The natural history of the colony. Adelaide, SA. 18th September, p 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27442797. Accessed 22nd May 2012
South Australian Register (1888) Donations to the museum. Adelaide, SA. 14th June, p 6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47270895. Accessed 21st May 2012
Suarez AV, Holway DA, Case TJ (2001) Patterns of spread in biological invasions dominated by long-distance jump dispersal: insights from Argentine ants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:1095–1100
Sydney Morning Herald (1854) Shipping. Sydney, p 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12954741. Accessed 7th March 2017
Tajima F (1989) Statistical method for testing the neutral mutation hypothesis by DNA polymorphism. Genetics 123:585–595
The Argus (1886) Tasmania. Melbourne, Victoria. 26th June http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page277061. Accessed 22nd May 2012
The Argus (1911) Question Box. Melbourne, Victoria. 6th June 1911, p 10. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10907684. Accessed 22nd May 2012
The Cornwall Chronicle (1847) Local. Launceston, Tas. 17th November, p 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65978454. Accessed 21st May 2012
The Mail (1918) Insect pests in autumn. Adelaide, SA. 2nd February, p 12. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63842936. Accessed 22nd May 2012
The Mercury (1878) Earwigs. Hobart, Tasmania. 5th December, p 3. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/8971094. Accessed 21st May 2012
The Mercury (1879) Earwigs. Hobart, Tasmania. 21st May 2012, p 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8973834. Accessed 21st May 2012
The Mercury (1884) South Arm. Hobart, Tasmania. 3rd January, p 2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9027996. Accessed 21st May 2012
The Register (1912) Common insect pests-forms and habits. Adelaide, SA. 17th June, p 10. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59067044. Accessed 22nd May 2012
The Register (1915) The Screech Owl. Adelaide, p 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59990591. Accessed 21st May 2012
Walker KA, Jones TH, Fell RD (1993) Pheromonal basis of aggregation in European earwig, Forficula auricalaria L. (Dermaptera: Forficulidae). J Chem Ecol 19:2029–2038. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00983805
West Gippsland Gazette (1907) Common garden pests. Warragul, Victoria. 3rd September, p 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68677278. Accessed 21st May 2012
Widmer M, Micic S, Dore T (2008) European earwigs - pests in crops. Farmnote 322 Department of Agriculture and Food. Western Australia
Wirth T, Le Guellec R, Vancassel M, Veuille M (1998) Molecular and reproductive characterization of sibling species in the European earwig (Forficula auricularia). Evolution 52:260–265. https://doi.org/10.2307/2410942
Yang ZH, Bielawski JP (2000) Statistical methods for detecting molecular adaptation. Trends Ecol Evol 15:496–503. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(00)01994-7
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Alice Balard, Aurore Maillard and Lounès Chikhi for their help. We also thank Svetlana Micic and Marc Widmer for the collection of the Western Australian samples. Finally, we wish to thank the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment, the ATM barcode from the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle and the École Pratique des Hautes Études for their financial support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Quarrell, S.R., Arabi, J., Suwalski, A. et al. The invasion biology of the invasive earwig, Forficula auricularia in Australasian ecosystems. Biol Invasions 20, 1553–1565 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-017-1646-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-017-1646-3