Largest Insects 

• Meganeura moneyi, a dragonfly-like creature with a 29 inch wingspan was the largest insect to ever live.
• Elephant Beetle, Megasoma acteon, is over 9cm long x 5cm wide x 4cm thick. 
• Titan Beetle, Titanus giganteus, is over 16cm long.
• Hercules Beetle, Dynastes hercules, is over 16cm long.

Smallest Insects 

• Feather-winged Beetle, Nanosella fungi, is only 0.25mm long. 
• Fairy flies (wasp), Alaptus magnanimus, is only 0.21mm long.
• Chalcid wasp, Megaphragma caribea, is only 0.17mm long.

Heaviest Insect: New Zealand Weta, Deinacrida heteracantha, which can weigh 70 grams

Longest Insect: Malaysian walking stick, Pharnacia kirbyi, at greater than 36cm in length.

Loudest Insect: Some Cicadas are as loud as 120 dB. Glad that they have no ears. 

Other Facts 

• Dragonflies can fly up to 30 miles per hour.
• Hover flies can fly in place (hover) like hummingbirds.
• Grasshoppers can jump 40 times their length.
• Fleas can jump 130 times their length.
• Some mosquitoes can beat their wings 600 times per second.
• Midge flies can beat their wings 1,046 times per second. 
• The most primitive insects are silverfish. They do not have wings nor practice metamorphosis.
• Some species of cicada take up to 17 years to develop.
• Beetles make up over 450,000 species. That means that one in four animals is a beetle.