The males have larger curved forceps, while the female's pinchers are mostly straight. On their backs are two pairs of wings. One pair serves as a scale-like cover over the second large pair that are elegantly folded beneath, like origami. In spite of their wings, the common earwig is not a great flier. They are, however, rapid runners.
Earwigs are nocturnal, spending their days in humid hideaways under leaves, stones or bark.
They prefer tight places, folds in old rags, between the pages of old damp newspapers where back and stomach touch. After a night of foraging they gather in groups sometimes numbering in the thousands. Earwigs are greedy, eager eaters. Not only do they use their chewing mouthparts on tender plant parts, but they also eat all kinds of smaller insects including plant lice, fruit caterpillars, even fleas. The strange forceps serve in defence, to grasp prey, to help unfold hind wings, and in mating.