Horror films with huge insects are doing this now, but once upon a time, insects the size of a bird inhabited planet Earth. Is there a danger that they will appear here again? A group of militants in full combat readiness is hiding in the mountains. Silence, no sound ... It seems that there is nothing to fear.
But the soldiers are sitting in ambush ... And suddenly something unimaginable begins! Hordes of insects begin to pour on the soldiers from the sky. The insects are large, with huge legs. The soldiers call for help, but will she have time to arrive? This is a real war, a war with an alien life that threatens to destroy the entire human race.
You probably already saw the scene described above in some Hollywood movie. Films about the invasion of giant alien insects are constantly being shot. Along with such films, there are those in which a person, as a result of unsuccessful scientific experiments, turns into an insect and begins to threaten all living things.
The main goal of both those and other films is to inspire fear in a person. Those who want to tickle their nerves are happy to watch horror movies, knowing that in real life nothing like this will happen. But is it? After all, insects of large sizes had once existed.
Biggest insects
The largest insect that existed on Earth is the dragonfly of the meganevre (Meganeuropsis permiana). Its wingspan was more than 70 cm. It is almost like a magpie.Even if the insects in the films do not scare you, you would be scared of such a monster if you saw it in real life. Fortunately, such insects inhabited almost 30 million years ago.
However, today there are very large insects. One of them is a white nocturnal butterfly scoop agrippina (Thysania Agrippina), which lives in South and Central America. The wingspan reaches 30.8 cm.
There are many other moths, butterflies and dragonflies of a similar size, with a wingspan of 20 to 30 cm.
In 2008, another large insect, the Phobaeticus serratipes sticks, was discovered in the rainforests of Borneo. It is better known as Chan’s Megastick. The body length of the insect reaches 35.7 cm. If the insect extended its legs, then its length became more than 50 cm. The found specimen turned out to be a female, ready for laying eggs. Alas, she was dead.
Insect sizes
However, when discussing the size of an insect, it is not enough to know only its size and wingspan (if any). There is another factor - weight.
If the weight is taken as a determining value, then the largest insect will be the larva of the North American acteon beetle, whose weight reaches 228 g. 6-7 sparrows weigh the same amount. The larva lives in huge, dried tropical trees and eats rotting wood for several years, until it turns into a beetle.
Surprisingly, the larva of the acteon beetle itself weighs more than an adult.
If we consider only adult insects, the largest will be the Veta Punga (Deinacrida fallai), a giant grasshopper found on the islands of New Zealand. Its weight reaches 71.3 g. It again turned out to be a female. That's where scriptwriters get new ideas.The grasshopper is so big that if you put it in the palm of your hand, it will close it completely. What is not a prototype for the next horror movie?
Factors Affecting Insect Size
There are many factors that affect the size of insects. They can be:
- Thermoregulation Processes
- The presence of predators and other reasons.
If the insect is small, it can become a victim of other, larger insects. And when it reaches a large size, his enemies become much smaller.
The size of insects can also be influenced by the state of the environment. Mostly the presence of oxygen. It is a major limiting factor. The fact is that the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere is much higher and is about 30% compared with 21% on earth. Oxygen is required by organisms as an energy source for the flying muscles.
Insects breathe oxygen through many tubes called tracheas. As insects grow, the size of their bodies increases, and the number of tubules does not have time to develop at the same rate. The same number of tracheas, however, can supply an increased amount of oxygen, but they themselves no longer develop.
Fear of insects is cultivated, as a rule, only in Western countries. In Japan, Papua New Guinea is very fond of insects and enjoy their company. There, insects are part of the cult and even enter the diet. Since insects in these countries are constantly exterminated, their number may decrease dramatically over time.
