Open Access

Claire Miles

• This paper presents a description of the worldwide Dermaptera collection of the Manchester Museum, UK. In total, the collection contains over 16,700 specimens and represents 835 species and subspecies (approximately 44% of the Dermaptera world fauna). The composition of the collection is described and a brief account is given of its history and those instrumental in its development, notably W.D. Hincks (1906–1961) and A. Brindle (1915–2001). Correspondence held at the museum relating to their work on Dermaptera is listed and examples relating to Labidura herculeana (Fabricius, 1798) and some of the parasitic earwigs in the collection are explored. Finally, a complete type catalogue of the Manchester Museum’s Dermaptera is presented; it is arranged alphabetically by species name as originally described, with photographs of all holotypes and their corresponding data labels. The collection contains 40 holotypes and 694 secondary types (allotypes, syntypes or paratypes), representing 283 species and subspecies, an estimated 15% of the Dermaptera world fauna.