In 2005 Howard Mendel from the Natural History Museum conducted a search, with Philip and Myrtle Ashmole, to no avail. The earwig has not been seen alive since 1967 despite searches for it in 1988, 1993, 2003 and 2005. It is possibly extinct due to habitat loss, "by the removal of nearly all surface stones.. ... for construction", as well as predation by introduced rodents, mantids, and centipedes ("Scolopendra morsitans"). In 2014, the IUCN changed their assessment of "L. herculeana" on the IUCN Red List from "Critically Endangered" to "Extinct".