Seasonal Abundance and Sex Ratio of Earwigflies (Merope tuber) in Eastern Kentucky

The earwigfly is a rarely seen insect in the family of scorpionflies. There are three species total, one in Brazil, one in Australia, and the third (Merope tuber), widespread throughout the eastern United states. In a 1984 study, Chris Maier collected 69 earwigflies between 1977 and 1982 from New England. Most of these were collected in July using sticky traps. He collected 43 females and 26 males (sex ratio 2.4:1). In a 2014 study, Skvarla, Hartshorn, and Dowling collected 77 earwigflies from Arkansas, mostly in August using malaise traps, pan traps, Lindgren funnels, and pitfall traps. They collected 58 females and 24 males (sex ratio 1.65:1). Over the course of two field seasons in 2011 and 2012, we collected over 500 earwigflies from pan traps, which is the largest collection in the world that we know of. We collected 339 females and 165 males, which is roughly a 2.05:1 sex ratio. It seems that earwigflies in Eastern Kentucky are most abundant in late August and early September. Our results are similar to those of Maier and Skvarla, Hartshorn, and Dowling with their smaller data sets. We plan to use statistical analysis to better evaluate seasonal variance of earwigflies.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2022/1008/thumbnail.jp