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tu te ballades en Australie, te méfiant des crocodiles
et tu te retrouves face à ce machin :
pire, il te descend sur le bras
il est terriblement antipahique
et pire énormément grand :
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c'est une découverte de janvier 2025 !
avant, personne ne savait qu'il existait !
il ne figurait pas dans ce bouquin
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il a fallu le hasard, qu'il tombe sur un mec
un mec qui n'en a pas cru ses yeux, mais il a fait un article dans le journal local
et la nouvelle a fait le tour des scientifiques du monde
son nom ? Acrophylla alta
The world’s longest insect, and a worthy contender for biggest insect, is currently the giant Chinese stick insect (Phryganistria chinensis); discovered in China as recently as 2014. The adult female first found in the wild measured 624mm in length with legs outstretched, but was surpassed by one of its captive-bred young that reached 640mm in length! The jungle nymph stick insect (Heteropteryx dilatata) of Malaysia does not reach the same impressive lengths as its Chinese cousin, but is one of the chunkier ‘sticks’, and is often cited as one of the heaviest, reaching up to 65g in weight.
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vous voyez qu'à part le Chinois, c'est un bel et grand phasme
The Little Barrier Island giant wētā - world’s heaviest insect
The Little Barrier Island giant wētā (Deinacrida heteracantha) could also appear in the world’s largest insects list. Endemic to New Zealand, where it survives only on Little Barrier Island and some predator-free conservation areas that it has been translocated to, this relative of the grasshopper can measure up to 100mm in length. It is often cited as the heaviest insect in the world, with one captive female reaching a mass of 71g.
Royal Goliath beetle - world’s largest beetle
Goliathus regius on display at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano Hectonichus, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Many beetles reach great sizes but the royal Goliath beetle (Goliathus regius) is among the largest beetles, measuring up to 115mm in length. Found in western equatorial Africa, this Goliath of insects primarily feeds on tree sap and fruits, and despite its large size it can fly well. Goliath beetle larvae get even bigger and are capable of growing up to 250mm in length and reaching weights in excess of 100g!
World’s largest giant water bug
Frank Vassen from Brussels, Belgium, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Giant water bugs (Belostomatidae) are a family of freshwater hemipteran insects or true bugs. Occurring worldwide, but with most species in the Americas, Australia and Asia, they are typically found (as their name would suggest) in or around water, namely freshwater streams and ponds. The largest giant water bugs can grow to more than 120mm in length.
The blue eyes lacewing - world’s largest lacewing
The largest lacewing is the blue eyes lacewing (Nymphes myrmeleonides), an Australian insect found in New South Wales and Queensland. This lacewing can measure up to 40mm in length and have a wingspan of about 110mm. As with dragonflies and damselflies, similar species existed during the Jurassic Period and also grew incredibly large. Partially preserved Makarkinia adamsi fossils suggest that this ancient species had a wingspan of between 140-160mm!
World’s largest insect ever :
If we go back in time nearly 300 million years, the largest known insect was a predator resembling a dragonfly, but only distantly related to them. Meganeuropsis permiana had a body about 430mm long and a wingspan of an incredible 710mm (that’s nearly 1m). Their maximum body mass is uncertain, with estimates varying between 34g and 240g.
vous le voyez : on découvre toujours de nouveaux insectes
vous le voyez aussi : certains sont absolument horribles
on pourrait croire qu'avec les saloperies diverses qiue l'on balance partout
ils auraient disparu ?
non ! ils résistent !
et même, quand nous aurons disparu
ils nous remplaceront !
on croirait un drone moderne ?
non, c'est une libellule préhistorique !
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Tels des ombres, ils se déplacent pour chasser. Ils se distinguent à peine et sont presque transparents dans la nature. Croyez-vous aux fantômes ?
Nous n’en sommes pas loin. Les phasmes de France portent bien leur nom. Phasma en latin veut dire « apparition » ou « fantôme ». Leurs allures et leurs formes leur permettent, par mimétisme, de se dissimuler tels une brindille, une feuille accrochée à une branche ou encore du lichen. Les phasmes sont des experts de l’imitation et de la dissimulation !
il existe bien des phasmes chez nous, mais comme nous-mêmes, ils sont relativement petits, comme par exemple le phasme gaulois !
vous voyez, il tient dans la main, et on peut l'élever dans un HLM :
c'est pour certains un animal de compagnie !