WORLDS LARGEST INSECT

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Insects don't seem that big, right?  Wrong.  there is a huge diversity of insects, which is hardly surprising as they are the most numerous group of organisms on earth. Some are unusually large.

Phobaeticius chani

The largest insect to ever live on earth is the now extinct dragon-fly like insects that belonged to the order Meganisoptera.  They were the size of a crow, with a wing span of 85 cm and weighing over 1 lb. They flew at the time of the dinosaurs but died out a the end of the Paleozoic Era.

The record for the longest insect in the world belongs to the stick insects Phobaeticus chani.  A specimen in the Natural History Museum has reached over 56 cm in length. They habit rain forests of Borneo.

The bulkiest insect is the Acteaeom Beetle Megasoma actaeon from South America. Also known as the rhinoceros beetle, they belong to the Scarabaeidae family. Male beetles can reach up to 9 cm long by 5 cm wide by 4 cm tall.

Titus giganteus

The insects with the largest overall size are the Hercules beetle Dynastes hercules can grow to over 17.5 cm, which includes the huge horn that makes up around half of its total length. The neotropical South American Longhorn Beetle, Titanus giganteus, actually has a longer body length. They can reach over 16 cm long.

The heaviest insect in the world is the Goliath beetle Goliathus goliatus. The species is widespread from western to eastern equatorial Africa. It weighs over 4 oz with a body length of 11.5 cm.

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