Silent Spring for the giant earwig?

[George Beccaloni]

Dear Fabian,

Have you seen the entry about L. herculeana in Wikipedia:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Helena_Earwig_(Labidura_herculeana)

You might also be interested in the following topical article:-
http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=1042&fArticleId=3012023

My NHM colleague Howard Mendel has just come back from St Helena, where he spend two days or so looking for herculeana on Horse Point Plain. Unfortunately he didn't manage to find any trace of it - not even old forceps.

Best wishes,

George

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Dr George Beccaloni
Curator of Orthopteroidea
Entomology Department
The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
South Kensington
London SW7 5BD, UK

Tel. +44 (0)20 7942 5361 Fax. +44 (0)20 7942 5229
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-----Original Message-----
From: Taxacom Discussion List [mailto:TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU]On
Behalf Of Fabian Haas
Sent: 03 February 2006 08:27
To: TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU
Subject: Re: [TAXACOM] Silent Spring for the giant earwig?


Dear All,

thank you for all the informations on the Labidura herculeana. I will
collect it and prepare a webpage on my earwig site www.earwigs-online.de

It might sound extravagant: but does any body have, or know someone who
has, images of the earwigs alive, in his natural habitat. I do have
images of the museum specimens but images of living specimens would be
much more impressive. Naturally copyrights information will be given on
the webpage. I will also try to get hold of the Earwig stamp issued by
St. Helena. That again is a drawing, no photo.

Best
Fabian

alberto ballerio schrieb:
> According to P. and M. Ashmole (2000. St. Helena and
> Ascension Island: a natural history. Nelson, Oswestry
> 492 pp.) Labidura herculeana could be extinct due to
> the clearing of the Gumwood forest where the species
> lived (in the area of Horse Point), another cause of
> the alleged extinction could have been the competition
> with the introduced Scolopendra morsitans.
> They also report of recent findings (1995) of
> subfossil forceps.
> Best regards,
>                 Alberto Ballerio
>
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> ___________________________________
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Dr. Fabian Haas, FRES
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
Rosenstein 1
D-70191 Stuttgart
Deutschland / Germany / Allemagne

Nationale Kontaktstelle der Globalen Taxonomie Initiative (GTI)
German National Focal Point of the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI)
URL: http://www.gti-kontaktstelle.de
email: haas.smns at naturkundemuseum-bw.de

Phone: 0711 8936 172
Fax: 0711 8936 100

The Site on Earwig Biology
URL: http://www.earwigs-online.de

My Photo Site
URL: http://www.fabianhaas.de

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URL: http://www.gfbs-home.de/
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