Insects double-tailed: photo, description, what is dangerous

Everyone who met an unpleasant, bifurcated insect was visited by disgust and even a feeling of fright. We are talking about a double-tail, the formidable look of which suggests a painful bite. A frequent occupant of garden plots through open windows and doors can start in the apartment. But whether a double-tail is dangerous for a person, this article will tell.

Features

Often people call a double-tail earwig or fork. However, these are completely different insects. The forked tail is the main attribute that unites them. Moreover, in the earwigs, the body is much darker than in their two-tailed relatives. Read about how a two-tail looks and how it differs from an earwig.

Earwigs - representatives of the winged beetle squad. They have an oblong flat body of brown-chestnut color. Larger males, their body length reaches up to 1.7-2 cm, females are smaller (up to 1.4 cm). However, in nature there are also such earwigs, whose body length can be more than 4 cm.

Insects have small eyes, a whisker, and membranous wings, which they use only in rare cases. A distinctive feature of the earwigs is the claw-shaped processes - modified cerci located at the end of the body.

The two-tailed is a small-sized arthropod, which belongs to the order of the maxillofacial hexapods:

• the body length of adults does not usually exceed 5 mm, but there are gigantic specimens growing up to 50 mm;
• there is no body pigmentation on the segmented abdomen;
• Also, the double-tailed insect has no eyes, their role is played by a long mustache, characterized by high sensitivity.

Cerci - chitinous claw-shaped processes that form a pseudo-tail can be of different thickness and length. Many will think why such insect tongs are needed. Claws serve not only to capture prey, but also to protect. If necessary, arthropods can even drop them, after which the lost appendages grow again. A photo of the double-tail is presented below.

Double-tailed Habitat

The habitat of double-tailed insects is moist, moist rooms such as basements, cellars, garages or buildings located in lowlands. Arthropod can be met even in the toilet or bathroom, where there is insufficient ventilation. Fork tails can lurk under skirting boards, in crevices behind sewer and water pipes, or in insulation between walls. The accumulation of steam and condensate creates favorable conditions for the habitation and distribution of intruders.

On a note!

It is not possible to detect an insect in the house immediately, since this very agile and dexterous creature leaves its shelter exclusively in the dark.

Often insects get into the apartment along with fruits or vegetables brought from the store. So, forktails can hide in lettuce or bunches of grapes.

In nature, pests prefer to live near water bodies and in lowlands under various snags, stones, dumped trees or stumps. Often they are found in gardens and orchards, especially in rainy weather.

Nutrition

In search of food, insects go mainly at night. The stems of young shoots, the remains of decaying leaves and various small insects - this is what the two-tailed creatures eat.

Interesting!

Strawberries, raspberries, cherries and peaches are a favorite treat for insects. Pests will not refuse even from the crumbs remaining after dinner on the table.

Breeding

It is also surprising how double-tailed birds breed. The process of fertilization occurs outside the body of arthropods. During the week, the male lays in the soil at least two hundred spermatophores (capsules with sperm), which retain their properties for two days. A female collects these capsules with her genital opening, after which she lays eggs in cracks in the soil (up to 50 larvae emerge from one clutch). Metamorphosis-free offspring is very similar to adult insects and differs only in smaller sizes.

Is the pest dangerous

Many people are puzzled by the question, what is the danger of a two-tail for a person. The damage caused by double-tailed insects is calculated not only in damage to indoor plants, vegetables in the garden, but also in fruits and berries in the garden.

The presence of pests in the house increases the risk of the spread of infectious bacteria during a bite. After all, the two-tails bite quite painfully, squeezing the soft tissues of the skin with their claws. Large individuals with such a capture can even damage the integrity of the skin, resulting in the appearance of two barely noticeable wounds. A photo of a double-bite bite can be seen below.

Symptoms of a bite in a person can be as follows:

• The presence of microscopic wounds at the site of the bite, which are accompanied by severe itching.
• As a result of combing, the damaged area begins to redden and swell.
• People with allergies may have blisters filled with fluid. The process of opening the vesicles is accompanied by severe pain. In such places long healing ulcers may even form, causing a person great discomfort.

The question of what to do if a two-tail has bitten arises naturally. Despite the fact that the insect is not poisonous, you can not ignore the situation. The bite treatment consists in treating the damaged area with an antibacterial or disinfectant, after which an antihistamine should be taken. If your general condition worsens, you need to consult a doctor. Neighborhood with such insects is undesirable for humans, therefore, they should get ridusing folk and chemical agents.

Prevention

Prevent the spread of uninvited guests in the apartment will help preventive measures, which include regular ventilation of the room and the elimination of leaks of plumbing fixtures. It is also not recommended to dry clothes in the bathroom and in the kitchen. Carrying out repair work and installing mosquito nets on windows will help limit the penetration of pests into the room.