---
title: "Western Earwig"
description: "Forficula dentata — Insetos e aranhas. Forficula dentata is a species of earwig in the family Forficulidae, commonly referred to as the Western earwig or European earwig."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pt/animal/western-earwig
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Western Earwig

> Forficula dentata — Insetos e aranhas. Forficula dentata is a species of earwig in the family Forficulidae, commonly referred to as the Western earwig or European earwig.

- Scientific name: *Forficula dentata*
- Category: `insects` (Insetos e aranhas)
- Habitats: `urban` (Cidades e jardins)
- iNaturalist observations: 17143
- Wikidata: [Q120400839](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q120400839)
- iNaturalist taxon: [1470429](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1470429)

## Names

- en: Western Earwig
- es: Tijereta común

## Countries with the most observations

US (6688), CA (1998), AU (1884), NZ (1278), ES (415), PT (406), CL (202), FR (71), GB (49), AR (38), BO (31), IE (25)

## Summary

Forficula dentata is a species of earwig in the family Forficulidae, commonly referred to as the Western earwig or European earwig. It was first described by Danish zoologist, Johan Christian Fabricius, in 1775.
It is a cryptic species belonging to the Forficula auricularia species complex. Originally thought to be a synonym of F. auricularia, it has since been classified its own unique species. Being cryptic, it is often misidentified as F. auricularia or Forficula mediterranea, which differ in their distribution.
The distribution of F. dentata includes the British Isles, parts of Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forficula_dentata

## Photo

![Western Earwig](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/western-earwig/medium.jpg)

Photo: Jesse Rorabaugh · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/227232100

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/western-earwig?lang=pt` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).