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Photo#90311
Ringlegged Earwig (Euborellia annulipes)? - Euborellia - male - female

Ringlegged Earwig (Euborellia annulipes)? - Euborellia - Male Female
Houston, Harris County, Texas, USA
November 6, 2006
Size: 1/2 inch
I think? that the a identifying feature is the white segment near the end of the antenna.

Images of this individual: tag all
Ringlegged Earwig (Euborellia annulipes)? - Euborellia - male - female Ringlegged Earwig (Euborellia annulipes)? - Euborellia - male - female

Parental care.
Forget the identification for a moment, this is a great shot demonstrating the parental care exhibited by many female earwigs. Nice job!

Sort of
The white subapical segments are one feature that narrows it down a bit. The relatively small number of antennal segments (assuming this is an adult) help, too. More useful are the "black armbands", which, as far as I know are restricted in American species to the genus Euborellia. They're most distinct in E. annulipes, but some E. cincticollis are reported to have indistinct dark spots in the same place.

I would guess this is E. annulipes, but I don't know all the other species. The pictures I could find show E. plebeja not having the black leg-rings, and E. stali with distinctive light banding on the abdomen, but there are a couple of other species listed in Nomina Nearctica and I don't have access to a key that mentions them.

By the way, the main things the keys look at are the shape of the segments on the "feet", and the shape of the forceps, as well as the number, coloring and relative size of the antennal segments. The color of the body and legs, not to mention presence or absence of wings are used also.

If I were submitting images for ID, I'd try to have a dorsal view with the forceps in focus, one with the antennae in focus, and (if possible) a close-up side view of the feet.

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