Hidden in plain sight: First records of the alien earwig euborellia femoralis (dohrn, 1863) in europe

Abstract

The occurrence of the alien earwig Euborellia femoralis (Dohrn, 1863), which is native to Asia, is reported for the first time in Europe. The species was found at two sites (Rhodes and Magnesia) in Greece in 2017–2020. The identity of morphologically identified specimens was verified by comparison of COI barcodes, and a phylogenetic tree for Euborellia species was constructed with available COI sequences. In addition to the typical fully winged specimens of E. femoralis, the apterous forms of both sexes are reported. A morphology-based identification key for European Euborellia is provided; the key considers both winged and apterous forms of E. annulipes and E. femoralis.