File talk:Apterygida media (aka).jpg

In my opinion this can't be Forficula auricularia, because the hindwings are not visible. It should be a female of Apterygida media. --Mbc 07:53, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

We discussed this in the german wikipedia. It indeed is a subadult female of Forficula auriculata. --Mbc 18:57, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Apterygida media - adult female!

IMHO Mbc was right about questioning the ID on this image as it indeed shows an adult female Apterygida media, my corrections to the image description and categorization however were reverted and I'm not going to start an edit war over it.

I will now add a notice to alert users that the ID is questionable at the very least and will categorize the image in both Forficula and Apterygida - silly as this may seem, to at least enable users looking for images of Apeterygida media to find this excellent image of an adult female.

I hope these changes will be respected now.

For reference:

• Original ID on German wikipedia here: Archiv04
• Discussion initialized by Mbc here: Archiv07
• "Discussion" on the author's talk page here

Translated overview:

• Doc Taxon first thought it was Apterygida, but asked around (here) and was told by someone who stated I only know Earwigs superficially (sic!) that he would have it to be Forficula auricularia, probably subadult. This was communicated back to the de.wiki as "Expert" advice.
• The discussion following Mbc's questioning is too long to translate, but centers around questionable IDing characters (without source reference).
• IMO the main point is missed. The structure/surface of the forewings clearly makes this an adult and hence the hind wings are way too short for F. auricularia. Even the (late instar) nymphs of F. auricularia have longer hindwings as illustrated in this image (wrongly ID's as A. media at the moment). With a close look at the structure of the wings (or wing capsules) the two are really not that hard to tell apart. Further arguments pro A. media for the image discussed her would be the clear orange-reddish colour, the setae on the body and the length and shape of the cerci.

I will not spend more time on this, name the image as you please, 'nough said. Pudding4brains (talk) 17:19, 6 December 2009 (UTC)