The place for cool and interesting bug facts

Record Breaking Bugs

From the biggest to the fastest!

Fastest Flier

The insects with the highest airspeeds are Desert Locusts and Corn Earworm Moths.  These fly at average speeds of 21 and 17 mph respectively.  Many insects surely fly faster, but their airspeeds have yet to be studied with modern methods.  The highest sustained groundspeed recorded is that of the Black Cutworm which flies at speeds between 60 – 70 mph.


Most Tolerant of Cold

The insect able to survive the lowest temperature for adaptive reasons is Pterostichus brevicornis. In laboratory tests, it was found that the winter adult of this carabid beetle tolerates temperatures as low as -124.6 F.  This beetle should thus be able to survive any natural temperatures in its Arctic environment.


Longest Migration

The Desert Locust inhabits the dry areas of northern Africa.  It was reported that in 1950 individual swarms had been tracked from the Arabian Peninsula over 3,100 miles to the west coast of Africa at Mauritania in less than two months. During October of 1988 many individual locusts were found along a front reaching north from the island of St. Croix in the West Indies, south to the eastern coasts of the South American countries of Surinam and Guyana.  These individuals were arriving with a sub tropical wave of low pressure that later spawned a hurricane. The distance traveled from the west coast of Africa to islands in the West Indies was 2800 miles.


Most Heat Tolerant

There are at least three genera of ants, all desert scavengers, and each from a different desert around the world, that forage for the corpses of insects and other arthropods which have succumbed to the heat stress of their desert environment.  These genera include Cataglyphis in North Africa, Ocymyrmex of South Africa, and Melophorus of Australia.  Among these thermophilic ants, Cataglyphis seems to emerge as the premier thermophile.  It lives in the Sahara Desert and forages at a body temperature well above 122 F with surface temperatures of up to 158 F.  Although the other genera mentioned may forage at similar environmental temperatures, they are apparently not quite as thermotolerant.  In laboratory tests, for example, the Namib Desert ant Ocymyrmex barbiger entered a heat coma in only 25 seconds when placed in a 131 F environment, whereas five Cataglyphis species exhibited symptoms after 10 to 25 minutes.  Perhaps the most serious challenger to C. bicolor is Melophorus bagoti from the central Australian desert. These ants do not even emerge to forage in their desert environment until the surface temperature is a blistering 132.8 F.  There are basically three characteristics that adapt these thermophilic ants to exploit the hottest deserts of the world at the hottest times of the day. First, the ants are quite speedy, which minimizes sun exposure and may contribute to convective cooling. Second, their long legs elevate them above the hot substrate.  Third, they possess a foraging behavior of pausing on the stalks of dry vegetation where the lower temperatures can off-load excess body heat.


Most Toxic Venom

Insects suggested to have the most toxic venom include Harvester ants, Bees, Yellowjackets and Hornets, Velvet ants, Puss caterpillars, Slug caterpillars, Giant Silkworm moth caterpillars, and Assassin bugs.  However unpleasant the experience of being “stung” by ants, bees, wasps, and assassin bugs is, it is difficult to quantify pain responses objectively.  The most toxic venom is found in a species of Harvester ant, with a mouse LD50 value of 0.12 mg/kg.


Longest Insect

Study of the primary literature revealed the longest insect is a Pharnacia serratipes from the Malay Peninsula.  It was measured at nearly 22 inches long. The species of stick insects that reach the incredible lengths recorded here are primarily found in Indonesia. It is possible that there are other living specimens which may surpass the length of the present record holder. However, until a new candidate is identified, the clear winner for longest insect is the Pharnacia serratipes.  


Fastest Runner

There are two contenders for the fastest land insect: the American cockroach and an Australian tiger beetle.  The American roach is the current record holder with a maximum speed recorded at 3.4 mph, but the tiger beetle has at times been recorded to move quicker.  While it is known that most tiger beetles flee their potential predators through flight, for some tiger beetles flight is a waste of valuable energy and even a possible hazard to reproducing, since their natural habitat is isolated and food is scarce.  The final question now is which measurement of speed to use for the selection of the fastest runner: relative or absolute? If relative speed is the choice, the fastest running insect is the Tiger beetle.  To convert its relative speed into human terms, a 6-foot man would move about 1026 feet per second or approximately 1/5 of a mile per second or 720 mph. This speed almost breaks the sound barrier at sea level (732 mph) and would seem to clearly indicate a winner.


Largest Insects

• Megasoma acteon. South America's male Acteon Beetle is one of the bulkiest of the abundant order of beetles, and it is often considered the "largest" in the world. The males can grow to be 3.5" long by 2" wide by 1.5" thick.
• Deinacrida heteracantha. The heaviest insect on record was a pregnant Giant Weta, a rare and endangered New Zealand species that weighed in at just over 2 ounces.
• Titanus giganteus. The extremely rare South American Longhorn Beetle checks in from time to time at lengths greater 6" long. In his 1874 work, Insects Abroad, the Reverend J.G. Wood reports on a 9" long Titanus specimen. Could it be that this legendary, but undocumented beetle was measured with antennae extended? Average Titanus specimens check in well over 5" on average.
• Megasoma elephas, Goliathus goliatus, and Goliathus regius. These gargantuan scarabs, the Goliath beetles, have the greatest visible body mass. A Megasoma has been observed in captivity to consume an entire avocado in one day, but much of the comparative weight data gathered by entomologists comes from the dry weight of beetle exoskeletons.
• Pharnacia kirbyi or Pharnacia serritypes. The female of the species of this Borneo stick insect can be over 14" long, but she's thin as a rail.

Biggest Insect Ever

The fossil dragonfly, Meganeura, which lived about 250 million years ago, was probably the largest insect ever. Its wingspan was over two feet.


Largest Butterfly & Moth

The largest butterfly is the Queen Alexandra's Birdwing from New Guinea (an endangered species), with a wingspan of 11 inches.

The largest moth is the Owlet moth of tropical America, with a wingspan of 18 inches.