Given the vast diversity of insects in the world, it's difficult to definitively say which is the largest, making determining the biggest insect a tricky task. The word "large" has many meanings, depending on what you're comparing it to. It could be the insect's length or weight, wingspan—or even its general volume. Below is a list of contenders for the title of the world's largest insect; now it's up to you to decide which one you think is the biggest!
1. The world's longest insect
The world's longest insect, and a strong contender for the title of largest insect, is currently the giant Chinese stick insect (Phryganistria chinensis), recently discovered in China in 2014. The first adult female found in the wild measured 624 mm in length with her legs outstretched, but a larva in captivity exceeded that, reaching 640 mm! The Malaysian jungle nymph stick insect (Heteropteryx dilatata), while not as long as its Chinese relative, is one of the thicker "stick insects" and is often considered one of the heaviest, weighing up to 65 grams.
2. The world's largest dragonfly or damselfly
The Blue-winged Helicopter (Megaloprepus caerulatus) is a damselfly from the rainforests of Central America and is the largest extant member of the order Odonata. With a body length of approximately 130 mm and a wingspan of 190 mm, it is almost twice the size of the British Emperor Dragonfly. It can easily prey on its chosen prey—the orb-weaver spider—capturing it directly from its web.
3. The world's largest butterfly
Queen Alexandra (Ornithoptera alexandrae) is the largest butterfly in the world. It is distributed in eastern Papua New Guinea. Adult females are about 80 mm long and have a wingspan of slightly over 250 mm.
4. The world's heaviest insect
The Little Barrier Island giant wētā (Deinacrida heteracantha) may also appear on the list of the world's largest insects. This grasshopper relative, which can reach 100 mm in length, is endemic to New Zealand and lives only on Little Barrier Island and in some predator-free protected areas where it has been transferred. It is often considered the heaviest insect in the world, with a captive female weighing up to 71 grams.
5. The world's largest beetle
Many beetles are large, but the Royal Goliath beetle (Goliathus regius) is one of the largest, reaching up to 115 mm in length. This giant insect, found in equatorial West Africa, feeds primarily on tree sap and fruit, and despite its size, it is a very good flier. The larvae of this giant beetle grow even larger, reaching up to 250 mm in length and weighing over 100 grams!
6. The world's longest beetle
The award for the longest beetle may go to the Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules), which lives from southern Mexico all the way to South America. Thanks to its enormous "horns," it can reach a length of 181 millimeters. The Wallace longhorn beetle (Batocera wallacei) from New Guinea can grow to about 266 millimeters in length, but about 190 millimeters of that is in its antennae.
7. The world's largest giant water worm
Giant water bugs (Belostomatidae) are freshwater insects belonging to the order Hemiptera or the family Belostomatidae. They are distributed worldwide, but most species are found in the Americas, Australia, and Asia. They are typically found (as their name suggests) in or around water, namely freshwater streams and ponds. The largest giant water bugs can grow to over 120 mm in length.
8. The world's largest lacewing
The largest lacewing is the blue-eyed lacewing (Nymphes myrmeleonides), an Australian insect found in New South Wales and Queensland. This lacewing can reach a length of 40 mm and a wingspan of approximately 110 mm. Like dragonflies and damselflies, similar species existed during the Jurassic period and were also incredibly long. Partially preserved fossils of Makarkinia adamsi suggest that this ancient species had a wingspan between 140 and 160 mm!
9. The largest insect in history
If we go back nearly 300 million years, the largest known insect was a dragonfly-like predator, but only a distant relative of dragonflies. Meganeuropsis permiana had a body length of about 430 mm and an incredible wingspan of 710 mm (close to 1 m). Their maximum weight is uncertain, but is estimated to be between 34 g and 240 g.
Insects come in all shapes and sizes, and new species are discovered regularly—both living and fossilized. Given that the giant stick insect of China, despite its enormous size, was only discovered in recent years, is it possible that the world's largest insect has yet to be discovered?
