Hi all .
We had what looked like a giant earwig (clipshear) in the garden fair
enough I thought everything has a right to be somewhere so wasn't too
bothered. We found one crawling on the floor in the living room, which
is quite a way from the back door (which had been opened) so it has
either crawled a long way or this one was living in the house, it was
about 30 mm long, arched its back (to bring its "clips" to bear ?) and
was VERY tough, took what seemed an age to get it into a bottle to throw
it out, all this time it was being thrust about on the carpet and no
legs broke off,eventually I grabbed it with a piece of kitchen towel
(didn't want to touch it as I didn't know what it was and may have had
some substance on its "skin")and it felt armoured. Did seem a bit fatter
and taller than an earwig certainly was longer. Wish I had taken a
photo. last night. Does anyone recognise my (admittedly poor)
description of this insect (?) and is it likely to live somewhere in the
house or have we found a wanderer from the garden?
Had a wee look on Wikipedia looks like an Australian Earwig (not quite
so defined "clips" though) certainly looks nothing like any of the
cockroaches.
We live just outside Edinburgh In Scotland (Balerno) I would describe
the area as being suburban with every house having a garden, we are
above the snow line but there is no hint of snow at this time of year.
Quite a clayey ( == is that a word?) soil with mainly grass in our
garden

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"soup" wrote in message
.uk...

Hi all .
We had what looked like a giant earwig (clipshear) in the garden fair
enough I thought everything has a right to be somewhere so wasn't too
bothered. We found one crawling on the floor in the living room, which
is quite a way from the back door (which had been opened) so it has
either crawled a long way or this one was living in the house, it was
about 30 mm long, arched its back (to bring its "clips" to bear ?) and
was VERY tough, took what seemed an age to get it into a bottle to throw
it out, all this time it was being thrust about on the carpet and no
legs broke off,eventually I grabbed it with a piece of kitchen towel
(didn't want to touch it as I didn't know what it was and may have had
some substance on its "skin")and it felt armoured. Did seem a bit fatter
and taller than an earwig certainly was longer. Wish I had taken a
photo. last night. Does anyone recognise my (admittedly poor)
description of this insect (?) and is it likely to live somewhere in the
house or have we found a wanderer from the garden?
Had a wee look on Wikipedia looks like an Australian Earwig (not quite
so defined "clips" though) certainly looks nothing like any of the
cockroaches.
We live just outside Edinburgh In Scotland (Balerno) I would describe
the area as being suburban with every house having a garden, we are
above the snow line but there is no hint of snow at this time of year.
Quite a clayey ( == is that a word?) soil with mainly grass in our
garden



This sounds exactly like a black insect we have here in Normandy - this also
arched its back in a menacing way - Devil's Coachhorse. They can also run
like Linford Christie on Speed!
Try this link:
http://www.essexwt.org.uk/species/de...e%20beetle.htm


--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

David (in Normandy) wrote:
This sounds exactly like a black insect we have here in Normandy -
this also arched its back in a menacing way - Devil's Coachhorse.
They can also run like Linford Christie on Speed!
Try this link:
http://www.essexwt.org.uk/species/de...e%20beetle.htm

Sounds and looks exactly right ,
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/devils...tcm3-60302.jpg
so should I worry about seeing one in the house?

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"soup" wrote in message
.uk...
David (in Normandy) wrote:
This sounds exactly like a black insect we have here in Normandy -
this also arched its back in a menacing way - Devil's Coachhorse.
They can also run like Linford Christie on Speed!
Try this link:
http://www.essexwt.org.uk/species/de...e%20beetle.htm

Sounds and looks exactly right ,
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/devils...tcm3-60302.jpg
so should I worry about seeing one in the house?

I don't know! This is exactly were I first saw one - running across our
living room floor! I evicted it, but didn't like the way it arched it's back
towards me. I've since seen one trotting over the patio and straight through
our open front door so quickly nabbed it before it set up home there. I've
only seen the odd one since, always outside. Seems to be a problem with
leaving the front door open in hot weather but there aren't that many around
so I'm not worried.

Personally I'm more concerned about vipers. According to the locals I should
never leave my ankle height wellies outside the front door - they like to
set up home in them apparently. Since then I always keep them in the garage,
but always carefully tip them up at arms length before putting them on!!!

(As far as I can understand what the French call vipers are the same as UK
adders - either way I don't want to share my footwear with them!)
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

"soup" wrote in message
.uk...
David (in Normandy) wrote:
This sounds exactly like a black insect we have here in Normandy -
this also arched its back in a menacing way - Devil's Coachhorse.
They can also run like Linford Christie on Speed!
Try this link:
http://www.essexwt.org.uk/species/de...e%20beetle.htm

Sounds and looks exactly right ,
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/devils...tcm3-60302.jpg
so should I worry about seeing one in the house?

Devils Coach Horse beetles or Rove beetles (famiy Staphylinidae) are
completely harmless (to humans). There are lots of species (those big ones
are just the tip of an iceberg of different kinds). They are predatory (eat
other insects) and therefor beneficial in the garden. The only nasty thing
they do is excrete a defensive chemical thast makes your fingers STINK if
you pick them up.
So you can stop worrying :-).

Des



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David (in Normandy) wrote:
(As far as I can understand what the French call vipers are the same as UK
adders - either way I don't want to share my footwear with them!)

Yep. I saw my brother being chased by one. He was even zigzaging in the
field and she kept at him for a while. shivers

soup writes
David (in Normandy) wrote:
This sounds exactly like a black insect we have here in Normandy -
this also arched its back in a menacing way - Devil's Coachhorse.
They can also run like Linford Christie on Speed!
Try this link:
http://www.essexwt.org.uk/species/de...e%20beetle.htm

Sounds and looks exactly right ,
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/devils...tcm3-60302.jpg
so should I worry about seeing one in the house?

You did the right thing in putting it out rather than killing it - I
think they're not very common.
--
Kay

"K" wrote in message
...
soup writes
David (in Normandy) wrote:
This sounds exactly like a black insect we have here in Normandy -
this also arched its back in a menacing way - Devil's Coachhorse.
They can also run like Linford Christie on Speed!
Try this link:
http://www.essexwt.org.uk/species/de...e%20beetle.htm

Sounds and looks exactly right ,
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/devils...tcm3-60302.jpg
so should I worry about seeing one in the house?

You did the right thing in putting it out rather than killing it - I
think they're not very common.

They are regarded as fairly common throughout the UK, in fact they are the
only large black beetles which are so. In my experience, they're more common
in the south than the north. They may not be commonly seen, because they
hide by day, coming out at night to hunt worms and slugs.