Long before mammals and dinosaurs had their turn, insects ruled the Earth as the most dominant species, they have moved down a peg since the Carboniferous period.
Moreover, they’re the most mixed group of animals, with an estimated ten quintillion alive at any one time. They occupy every landmass and are critical to ecosystem function.
Let’s dive deep by knowing the world’s top ten biggest insects.
1. Giant Dragonfly – Largest Insect Ever
The giant dragonfly (Meganeuropsis permiana) is 75cm / 29.5 inches in size. The dragonfly’s name suggests they ruled the land around 300 million years ago during the Permian period. While it’s commonly known as a dragonfly, it’s more like a sort of evolutionary prototype when compared with modern versions.
Six times the wingspan of the largest known dragonfly today, this must have been a formidable hunter.
2. Stick Insect – The Longest Insect
The Stick Insect (Phryganistria chinensis Zhao) is not only the longest stick insect, but it’s also the longest insect alive and makes up an enormous 64cm in length.
Unlike their predatory brethren the mantids, stick insects are gentle creatures with very few defences. Instead of attacking, they rely on their incredible Mimicry to blend in.
Males and females are slightly different sizes, so have to mimic different plants: males will pretend to be dead bamboo, and females will mimic tree branches. As stick insects grow, they change habitats, and their colour scheme changes to suit.
3. Biggest Praying Mantis
Mantis are hard to measure. Without any reliable evidence for the largest one found, the main candidate is a species of Giant Stick Mantis (Toxodera maxima). These predators look a lot like their herbivorous cousins the stick insects, and demonstrate incredible mimicry with the woody stems of the plants they hunt among.
Since they’re hard to find and inhabit small ranges, these are rare examples of exceptional insects, and it’s likely some undiscovered contenders may or may not emerge in the coming years.
4. The Biggest Dragonfly
This dragonfly is known as the Giant Darner and is reported to fly faster than any other insect. Notable as the flying machine. Not only is it gigantic, but it’s also a fierce predator, and as a member of the Odonata order is likely one of the most successful ones too.
Dragonflies typically kill 95% of their targets, making them possibly the most effective hunters on Earth. The Giant Darner is the largest such insect alive today, but as you’ll soon see, not the largest there ever was.
5. The Biggest Cricket – Giant Weta
The largest cricket is commonly said to be the heaviest living insect, the Giant Weta. This monster cricket is around 10cm long and can be seen cutely munching on full-sized carrots in New Zealand.
Their fearsome appearance is a bit deceptive; they’re not dangerous (though they can give a nasty bite with their powerful jaws). They’re so ugly, that their scientific name means “terrible grasshopper”.
6. The Biggest Beetle
The Actaeon beetle is the biggest beetle that ever lived. Larvae of the Actaeon beetle, Megasoma actaeon, live for around 22 months in the soil: about a quarter of the time they’ll spend as adults. And over that time they grow to alarming proportions. This beetle larva reaches a weight of up to 240g, making it the heaviest beetle, and it’s still a competitor in length, too, at around 15cm.
For adults, the Titan beetle, Titanus giganteus, tops it in length. This beetle is so big that its scientific name doubles up. Again, this isn’t the longest of the group, but it’s not far off, and it more than makes up for it in sheer mass.
They’re longhorn beetles, so their length of 16.7cm includes their long antennae, which is kind of cheating.
7. Biggest Ant – The Male Driver Ant (Dorylus spp)
The male driver ant might not be the longest around, but it’s undoubtedly the fattest. Roughly tying for length with the giant Amazonian ant species, this drone from an army ant colony in East Africa is known locally as a sausage fly due to its meaty body.
They have formidable-looking jaws and fly clumsily into lightbulbs, but the mandibles are used only for clasping during mating and are not strong enough to administer a bite.
But even this juicy monster isn’t the largest ant – that title goes to the sausage fly’s better half. Queens of the Dolylus colonies grow up to 63mm (2.4 inches) long and are the largest ants known.
8. Biggest Bee – Megachile pluto (6.4cm / 2.5in)
This enormous hymenopteran is found in Indonesia and is known as a resin bee. Its wingspan is what makes it the largest of the bees, and when in flight, can reach over 6cm across. Also known as Wallace’s giant bee, it comes equipped with disproportionately large jaws that it uses to collect resin from trees.
Despite its colossal size, this is not an animal that’s well understood. The first video footage of one comes from as recently as 2019, and its ecological role is still uncertain. It’s thought that it might have a symbiotic relationship with termites, inside whose nests it commonly builds a home.
9. Biggest Wasp – The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) [5cm / 2in]
This one strikes fear into the hearts of a lot of people. The Asian giant hornet has a stinger longer than some wasps at 6mm, four times as long as that of a honeybee.
The wasp itself is around 2 inches long and flies around loudly, preying on other insects and inverts. It’s not typically aggressive, but like most wasps, will defend its home furiously when triggered.
Stings are reported to feel like a hot nail being driven into the flesh, and there are some reports of them being able to spray this venom from a distance into an attacker’s eyes – as if they needed to be any more frightening.
10. Biggest Flea – Hystrichopsylla schefferi (13mm / 0.5in)
At around 2mm, your common dog flea is a tiny nuisance: unflappable, capable of pinging into the ether the moment you turn on the light, and comfortable hiding in your covers until you’ve fallen asleep.
But if you were to nest up with a bunch of beavers you might find you end up with a nasty nip from the Beaver flea, and this one would be a lot harder to ignore.
In conclusion, this monster parasite is around seven times the size of the fleas we commonly meet on our pets, and the largest flea known.
