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Euborellia annulipes (Dermaptera: Anisolabididae), a new alien earwig in Central European greenhouses: potential pest or beneficial inhabitant?

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Abstract

Extensive research was undertaken from 2010 to 2013 that focused upon the invertebrate fauna occurring in greenhouses of the botanical and zoological gardens in Czech Republic and Slovakia. Occurrences of the alien earwig, Euborellia annulipes (Lucas, 1847), were found in three greenhouses in Czech Republic, and these findings are the first to document established populations in Central European greenhouses. The spectrum of foods consumed by E. annulipes was studied with a post-mortem analysis of the gastrointestinal tract contents. Based on the analyses, we can conclude that E. annulipes is an omnivorous species that, in greenhouse conditions, predominantly feeds on plant tissue. Despite the fact that E. annulipes also feeds on invertebrates, our study points to a small proportion of such food in its diet under free-choice conditions in greenhouses. According to the large portion of plant tissues in the species’ diet, it could potentially be a pest of cultivated plants, especially seedlings and young plants with soft tissue.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by an Institutional Research Support Grant from the University of Ostrava (reg. no. SGS21/PrF/2013) and by the project CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0100 (IET) financed by the Structural Funds of the Europe Union and Project LO1208 of National Feasibility Programme I of the Czech Republic. We thank Josef Dvorak (Prague) for the photograph of E. annulipes and all our colleagues who inspected greenhouses for the purposes of our research. We also thank Editor Dr. Tetsuo Gotoh and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments that improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Ecology, University of Ostrava, Chittussiho 10, 710 00, Ostrava, Czech Republic

    Petr Kocarek & Marketa Kirstova

  2. Municipal Museum Marianske Lazne, Goethovo Namesti 11, 353 01, Marianske Lazne, Czech Republic

    Libor Dvorak

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  1. Petr Kocarek
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Correspondence to Petr Kocarek.

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Kocarek, P., Dvorak, L. & Kirstova, M. Euborellia annulipes (Dermaptera: Anisolabididae), a new alien earwig in Central European greenhouses: potential pest or beneficial inhabitant?. Appl Entomol Zool 50, 201–206 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-015-0322-2

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