Silent Spring for the giant earwig? The notes of Dr Leleup

[Fabian Haas]

Dear Hans,

yes I know, I have just read Brindle's Paper in the volume you state
(Brindle A (1970) Dermaptera. La faune terrestre de l'île de
Sainte-Helene, 1: 213-227.) on page 221ff for Labidura herculeana. The
information you write is actually given distributed in the text and
Brindle refers to Dr. Basilewsky, and not Dr. Leleup, as source of
information. So I was (and am) not quite sure if all the information of
the collector Leleup has reached Brindle and went into printing. Maybe
there is still more in the Leleup's handwritten notes. If you are
interested we could put up a webpage, collecting this information.

Interesting is, as stated in the aforementioned text, that the cerci of
dead specimens can also be found under stones or the base of the little
bushes where the animals hide. Maybe this is not only dead specimens but
also exuvies, which are thinner and being destroyed faster.

This together with the ontogeny rather increases the chances that this
species is gone. I take it for granted that the expeditions would have
found at least a few of the 'fossil' cerci and visited exactly the
published places.

Well, anybody planning to go to St. Helena, shortly? Could you have a look?

Best
Fabian



Hans Henderickx schrieb:
> Fabian,
>
> Dr Leleup, the last collector of the giant earwig, made very precise
> notes
> of every single entomological finding he did on this expedition to St.
> Helena. These findings were published in a four book encyclopedia of 1590
> pages + plates named 'La faune terrestre de l'île de Sainte-Hélène'
> (Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika - Tervuren, Belgie, Annalen, serie
> in-8 Sciences Zoologiques'
>
> A year before he died Dr Leleup personally handed me his handwritten
> notes
> (diaries) of this expedition, with very precise details concerning the
> giant
> earwig. An example:
>
> "1/II/1967, (on the road to Horse Tail) "la ferme de Longwood. Le contre
> maître nous ayant déconseillé de faire monter de la main d'oevre,
> aujourdhui
> a eau de pluie insistante, ...,  Jeanne, Jean et moi trouvent chacun deux
> Labidura géantes (Jean 1male et une femelle), moi 2 mâles, dont 1 ...
> 68 mm
> de longeur et dont les cerques atteignent 24 mm."
>
> Dr Leleup told me this earwig occupies a narrow ecological niche and
> is hard
> to find, but he presumed the species still to be present.
>
> Regards,
>
> Hans Henderickx
>

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Dr. Fabian Haas, FRES
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
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