7 October 2025
The St Helena Government (SHG) welcomes a significant finding from the latest international scientific expedition, which offers critical new insights into the island’s lost biodiversity and creates a renewed focus on conservation in the eastern part of the island.
Whilst searching for fossil bird bones in a cave in Sharks Valley, a team comprising researchers from the Université de Lyon (France), the Natural History Museum of London (UK), alongside the St Helena National Trust and the St Helena Research Institute unearthed a new fossil site. This location yielded numerous bones from extinct endemic seabirds and a large number of insect remains, including evidence of the island’s famous lost invertebrate: the St Helena Giant Earwig (Labidura herculeana).
The Giant Earwig, once the largest in the world, was tragically declared extinct in 2014 after the last living specimen was seen in 1967. The new finds include:
- A total of four large male forceps of the Giant Earwig, including one of the largest ever measured, reaching 3.1 cm.
- Two female forceps.
- Remains of the supposedly extinct St Helena Giant Ground Beetle.
A Remarkable Window into the Past
This discovery of the Giant Earwig and other extinct insects in Sharks Valley is of immense importance. It significantly expands the known historical range of this iconic creature far beyond the last known sighting at Horse Point, suggesting it likely inhabited the whole eastern side of the island.
Informing Future Conservation Efforts
Whilst the species remains officially extinct, SHG supports the research team’s assessment that this discovery creates hope that the island’s extensive eastern habitats could still hold isolated, undiscovered populations of this, or similar, unique endemic fauna.
All recovered insect remains, including the Giant Earwig fossils, have been handed over to the St Helena National Trust. These remains mark the foundational pieces for the Trust’s new insect reference collection, which will be vital for future research, conservation, and education about the island’s unique invertebrates.
The international team, working under the “AtlantAves” project (funded by the French National Research Agency), completed its third excavation campaign in August this year. SHG extends its gratitude to the AtlantAves team for their dedication to uncovering our island’s natural history. We remain committed to protecting our endemic biodiversity for future generations and will use the insights from this expedition to inform our ongoing conservation and biosecurity strategies.
Photos
Male giant earwig forceps. Credit: Anaïs Duhamel
Eddie Duff celebrating the discovery. Credit: Anaïs Duhamel
Liza Fowler in the search for bones and insects. Credit: Anaïs Duhamel
Insect remains found in the cave. Credit: Julien Joseph
The entrance to the cave. Credit: Liza Fowler
#StHelena #biodiversity #ExtinctGiantEarwig