Forficula auricularia, the Common earwig or European earwig, is an omnivorous insect in the family Forficulidae. The European earwig is a common household pest in North America. Though they frighten many, they are harmless but tend to take up habitation within the home. They mostly appear frightening because their name literally means that they crawl into one's ear and are rumoured to burrow into the human brain, but this is generally false. There have been cases of earwigs wandering into ears by mistake. Instead, F. auricularia is a species that nurses their young and has survived in a variety of environments.