Forficula auricularia, the common European Earwig. Species within Forficulina are free-living, have functional wings and are not parasites. The cerci are unsegmented and modified into large, forceps-like structures. The first epizoic species of earwig was discovered by a London taxidermist on the body of a Malaysian hairless bulldog bat in 1909, then described by Karl Jordan. By the 1950s, the two suborders Arixeniina and Hemimerina had been added to Dermaptera. These were subsequently demoted to family Arixeniidae and superfamily Hemimeroidea (with sole family Hemimeridae), respectively. They are now grouped together with the former Forficulina in the new suborder Neodermaptera. Arixeniidae represents two genera, Arixenia and Xeniaria, with a total of five species in them. As with Hemimeridae, they are blind and wingless, with filiform segmented cerci. Hemimeridae are viviparous ectoparasites, preferring the fur of African rodents in either Cricetomys or Beamys genera. Hemimerina also has two genera, Hemimerus and Araeomerus, with a total of 11 species. Phylogeny Dermaptera is relatively small compared to the other orders of Insecta, with only about 2,000 species, 3 suborders and 15 families, including the extinct suborders Archidermaptera and Eodermaptera with their extinct families Protodiplatyidae, Dermapteridae, Semenoviolidae, and Turanodermatidae. The phylogeny of the Dermaptera is still debated. The extant Dermaptera appear to be monophyletic and there is support for the monophyly of the families Forficulidae, Chelisochidae, Labiduridae and Anisolabididae, however evidence has supported the conclusion that the former suborder Forficulina was paraphyletic through the exclusion of Hemimerina and Arixeniina which should instead be nested within the Forficulina. Thus, these former suborders were eliminated in the most recent higher classification. Relationship with humans Earwigs are fairly abundant and are found in many areas around the world. There is no evidence that they transmit diseases to humans or other animals. Their pincers are commonly believed to be dangerous, but in reality, even the curved pincers of males cause little or no harm to humans. Earwigs have been rarely known to crawl into the ears of humans, but they do not lay eggs inside the human body or human brain as is often claimed. There is a debate whether earwigs are harmful or beneficial to crops, as they eat both the foliage and the insects eating such foliage, such as aphids, though it would take a large population to do considerable damage. The common earwig eats a wide variety of plants, and also a wide variety of foliage,