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Mark Moffett / Minden / Solent
Entomologist Mark Moffett found this carrot-eating giant weta in a tree on New Zealand's Little Barrier Island. The cricketlike critter weighs 2.5 ounces (71 grams) and has a length of 7 inches (17.8 centimeters).
Is this the world's biggest bug? As with all superlatives, it depends on your definition. But the sight of a New Zealand giant weta chomping down on a carrot surely has to give you the creeps, even if it's rivaled by other giant creepy crawlies.
This particular species of the cricketlike creature — known as a giant weta or wetapunga to the Maori, and as Deinacrida heteracantha to scientists — is found only in protected areas such as New Zealand's Little Barrier Island. That's where Mark ("Doctor Bugs") Moffett, an entomologist and explorer at the Smithsonian Institution, found the specimen after two nights of searching.
"The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found," Britain's Daily Mail quoted Moffett as saying. "She weighs the equivalent to three mice. ... She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away. She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species, and we didn't want to risk indigestion."
The carrot-crunching cricket went viral today, and now questions are starting to emerge about the "biggest bug" label. The information accompanying the picture lists the insect's weight at 2.5 ounces (71 grams) and its length at 7 inches (17.8 centimeters, supposedly for wingspan, but keep reading).
The New Zealand-based news site Stuff.co.nz checked that with Landcare Research entomologist Thomas Buckley. "From the picture, it's a female, but it just looks like an average-sized one of that species," Buckley said.
Even the biggest giant weta has its rivals in the insect world. By some accounts, goliath beetles can reach a weight of 100 grams (3.5 ounces) during their larval stage and achieve a wingspan of nearly 10 inches (25 centimeters). The White Witch moth, meanwhile, has a wingspan of up to 12 inches (31 centimeters), which is wider than the wings of a sparrow.
But if you confine yourself strictly to adult insects, and define "big" in terms of weight, Moffett appears to have a good case. He told me in an email that the giant weta he found counts as the "largest one weighed, as far as I have seen recorded anywhere."
Now, if your definition of a "bug" takes in more than insects — say, the giant crustaceans known as isopods, which are super-sized versions of rolypoly bugs — then you're talking about bugs of truly horrific proportions. Do you have tales of monster bugs to share? Add them as comments below.
Update for 9:30 p.m. ET Dec. 2: Some of the reports about this giant weta make it sound as if the darn thing might bite somebody's finger off, but that's bogus. This CafeTerra posting describes the bug as a vegetarian and "the gentle giant of the insect world." They survive only in protected environments because they've been driven to near-extinction by rats and other invasive predators on New Zealand's main islands. The Kiwi Conservation Club says the bug is a "docile creature and does not kick or bite." Some reports have referred to the giant weta as having a 7-inch wingspan, but Moffett told me that the insect is "wingless, or virtually so." It's so heavy that it can't jump. It's so big that it can't easily hide from predators. And yes, it's edible.
Update for 11:30 p.m. ET Dec. 2: Moffett shed more light on the "biggest bug" question in a follow-up email: "I did not measure anything but the weight (one should correctly call it the 'world's heaviest adult insect'), but a rough estimate from the picture suggests an outstretched leg might be 7 inches. The weta is essentially wingless: no wings to see at all, let alone a seven-inch wing. [As to size:] I've seen a walking stick nearly 19 inches long in Sarawak, Malaysia, but it weighs next to nothing!"
Update for 3 p.m. ET Dec. 4: Uh-oh ... The New Zealand Herald quotes entomologist Ruud Kleinpaste as saying that the heaviest giant weta on record weighed 72 grams, which would be a gram heavier than Moffett's carrot-eating friend. Kleinpaste also said it's not unusual for the bugs to munch on carrots. But even if Moffett's weta is an unremarkable "wee 'un," Kleinpaste is glad for the publicity: "I think it's wonderful as long as weta get the attention and not that idiot American."
More weird tales of the insect world:
- Eight insects with the 'ick' factor
- For monster crickets, size does matter
- How 'bugs of death' can solve murder cases
- How about a yummy scoop of grasshopper?
- Slideshow: Portrait of a bug, and other small wonders
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Leave a Comment:
That's nothing!! Went to Costa Rica last year for a vacation - had a great time - but the 'grasshoppers' were like nothing I've seen anywhere, even when I lived in NZ. Some were a good 9" long. And very colorful
VW makes a bug much larger than that thing in the picture. In all seriousness though, the thing is huge. I've seen one of those encased in glass. In FL we have some larger bugs and too many times I've found a clock spider in my house that nearly made me mess my pants, but I don't know if anything is as big as that thing in the picture. If the clock spiders here in FL get any bigger though, they might dwarf that thing, and I'll need to get a gun to deal with them.
I think I saw a clock spider Richard (Melbourne, Florida). Damn thing was the size of my hand outstreched and like you I almost shat on myself. They have nothing on Camel Spiders though. Those things are Sci Fi all the way. WTF
http://www.camelspiders.net/large-camel-spider-picture.htm
That is one wicked cool grasshopper.
If they weren't endangered I would love to have one as a pet. I would call him "Bugs" ("What's up, doc?" Haha!) I wonder what the song sounds like... a Violin? Heehee!
Louisiana has mosquitoes that could...whip a full grown turkey...
Correct Phil Morris. At Mt. Arenal, just outside our cabana was a cricket on the wall. 6 in. body w/ 6 in. antenna. Anything that large becomes predator, not prey.
@Raptor - Trick of the lens there Rap, sorry. They are large, but not THAT large. They are about two inches mostly, that fellow is just holding them close to the camera :)
That big critter looks as happy as can be sitting in a hand, chowing on a carrot. It looks like it would make a great pet.
I have a Goliath bird eating spider, she has a leg-span of just over 10 inches... and a surly disposition. Goliaths are in the running for worlds largest spider, I am sure she would like to meet the worlds largest insect.
leave them where you found them! I don't want them in my garden.
Raptor
Thanks for the link, I think I will have nightmares, that thing is HUGE!
No thanks, I'll be having the lobster.
Oh hell, I thought the picture of the camel spider was a facehugger! Sigh.
i love shrimp and that looks tasty
Thats not Trick photogrphy, If that thing is only 2in WNxNEWT, then the guys hand is only an inch and half long. Use the guys hand as a point of reletivity. You are off your rocker if you think its only 2in long.
The "water bugs" (cockroaches) that crawl all over Florida make the giant weta look sick. Have one smack into your face while you're on a motorcycle doing 60MPH some time, and you'll know what I mean.
Sounds like a Palmetto bug. Step on one and he'll pull a gun on ya.
Yes, it was "Palmetto Bug" I was struggling to remember. Thank you.
They don't taste very good at 60 MPH.
Sounds like the roaches in Nevada. I was staying in a hotel just outside Boulder City one night. As I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep I kept hearing a tapping sound. I turned on the light and looked up and there was this huge roach on the ceiling. I grabbed my boot and swatted it off the ceiling and then attacked it on the floor. I struck it several times dead center with my boot before I managed to kill it. I was starting to worry it was going to take the boot away from me and beat me with it.
You are lucky you didn't run into one of the giant flying roaches we have in Nevada. though these things take the cake : http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01080/earth-graphics-200_1080292a.jpg
Ohh, when I used to live in Florida those palmetto bugs scared the crap out of me and I still freak if I see a big roach. I walked into a relative's kitchen after a big storm one night and flipped on the light to see a line of those things on the back of her sink. They arched up, hissed, and flew at me and I was terrified and ran...I still have flashbacks of that night. My husband says I would face up to a huge guy in a dark alley with no problem, but I see a palmetto bug and I turn into a hysterical girl. Those things could beat you with your boot I believe.
Eeeek...I can't even look at the link you posted, Devil. I need some therapy now just thinking of it.
Vietnam vets can tell you about the 3" black roaches over there- extremely tough. I was sleeping one day and woke up with one on my face- BLAAAHHH!- swatted it off, and had to step on it to hold it down, then go up on that foot and "jump" on it to crunch it. THEN you get a lot of green goo, and shell- nasty!
This thing looks kind of cute, but I can tell you that if I saw it on the wall here, I'd be unloading a .357 at it.....LOL (it looks pretty cheery with that carrot!)
I was going to say Palmetto bugs too.... I'm not from Florida, but when I moved here I was in for a BIG surprise... BIG.... seriously. Those things gross me out SO badly.
Texas has those huge, hideous palmetto bugs too. My cat loved them -- toys that buzzed and flew were much more entertaining than the ones that just lay there on the floor.
That's nothing, the mosqitos are so big in Alaska they can stand on their toes and screw a turkey
Yes, those palmetto bugs are terrifying! I once jumped into a pool in order to avoid one that was flying straight at me! Whenever I see a big dark roach and those yucky little antennae moving back and forth, I run like hell, because those things move FAST!
I lived in a stone cabin on top of a terraced hill in Locust Grove, OK. We were moving out, and I had nearly emptied the closet under the stairs, so I sat down to rest. That's when I heard an odd "tickety-tickety-tickety" and looked to see a giant red centipede scuttling across the floor. I herded it into a large box (because I was afraid to touch it.) It measured more than 14 inches long, and it's head was more than an inch wide. (Exact measurements were difficult, because, again, I was afraid to touch it.) I let it go, because it had obviously lived on that hill longer than I had! It scuttled off and disappeared under a rock retaining wall.
@ puttin - I seem to remember a mosquito in Alaska carrying off a 727 once....
EEEEWWWW!!!!!
Yeah no kidding. Imagine walking along minding your own business and that thing landing on you? Either it or me would probably achieve orbit.
that's one big hopper grass...
You've never stayed at the Abbott Hotel in Chicago.
Where I live in FL we have colorful grasshoppers that are at least 10 inches long, spiders that have bodies the size of a quarter that will run after you if you tried to kill it and missed, moths with wing spans of about 6 inches or so. Oh and lets not forget the famous palmetto bug winged and wingless.....Sometimes I feel like I live in the Amazons!
Yes, Sandy. I remember those grasshoppers too and prefer to block out thoughts of the flying palmetto bugs. I don't miss FL bugs....eeek.
My daughter..."Awwww. I want one."
Me..."NO"
Mine... said the exact same thing! lol...
Why not? You could be stopping her from being a great scientist...on bugs!
Hey, I didn't stop her from having pet snails last year. Or the silk worm. And I only had a mild fit over the green spider. The last thing I need in my home is a bug that can hide the remote. But if it could make my coffee, I'd be willing to think about it.
My daughter brought home meal worms she got from a friend at school. She said she wanted to watch their metamorphosis into beetles.
I had to do research on how to feed them. They finally did turn into beetles after a few months. Kind of neat.
love it :if you were starving it would make an enticing meal ,esp with the carrot for vegetables
Beautiful!
yes in deed
What a lovely creature. Yet another wonder of the natural world! If you have the chance, visit the Orkin (I know...ironic) Insect Zoo exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (Washington D.C.). It is phenomenal, and you get to see amazing arachnids and insects like these that will blow your mind!
Comment # 14 deleted. derail.
Nice.Good thing they're gentle.When I was a kid,we lived on Guam.They had 9" praying mantis's there that were SAVAGE!! One could just about take a four year old's hand apart.Believe me,I KNOW!! LOL
Praying Mantis as the insect world goes (out of the sea, that is) are one of the most aggressive as well as able to be so that exists..... they're a$$ kickers!
Years ago when my youngest daughters and I were into collecting all the giant silk moth species we could in Ohio, my eldest wanted to order in some orchid mantisses. While beautiful, I'd told her you'll never hold them as we do the silkworms; what I'd known about local praying manitesses as well as what I'd read online about the orchid variety was definately a 'hands off' captivity.
That HAD to hurt, Jimmie!!
EWWWWWWWWW RU SERIOUS? OMG i'd probably faint/barf or BOTH if I were to see an INSECT this big! I just HAD to look at this thing ............gross
" Poor Knights giant weta (Deinacrida fallai) - this specimen has an overall length of 200 mm (8 in)."
Must be a slow news day.... and the reporters mustn't have access to google *rolls eyes* Not only are there bigger species of insect, but there are also numerous larger wetas ;-P
Definitely not a slow news day, but for some reason this story hit a chord. As I get around to mentioning in the story, there are bigger insects in terms of size. Moffett's claim relates to weight, and on that score, all I know is what I see on the Internet (to paraphrase Will Rogers). The length that you cite is well within the range for numerous giant weta species if you're talking about leg-to-leg length, as it's generally depicted in the pictures of Deinacrida fallai. *Rolls eyes*
Kleinpaste is glad for the publicity: "I think it's wonderful as long as weta get the attention and not that idiot American."
How about pound sand kiwi.
You should see the large beetles bugs in the labs at Johnson Spaceflight Center in Houston. The biggest one I saw was about 3 inches long.
What about the South African giant earthworms that up to 22 feet in length?
Hey, could be a profitable source for protein and nutrients!
Cool, but not insects. So they're not competing with this one for the "biggest bug" title. :)
Hell my first wife was bigger.
You want to see giant bugs? Come to Arizona!!!
I'm with you there. Our plain old harmless tarantulas, while not in the same size category as this monster, nevertheless always get your attention. Love 'em.
Equally fascinating and disturbing.
Its cool, I want one!
I think I will stay right here in GA where most of the bugs are not that big. *shivers*
...and everyone was concerned about a food shortage. "Can I get a double weta-burger and a Coke?"
Weta-burger now available at all Whataburgers
i like bugs
Don't care much for bugs. Hate it when the exterminater goes thru our town house complex-----have to pick up 3-4 inch roaches for days after that.
Better dead then crawling out at night to nibble on things.
What about the camel spider over in the middle east? I would think they are not only larger but should weigh every bit as much as the weta, if not more. From the photos I had seen, they appeared to be about as large as the average males torso.
Different category.
It looks like something that would eat your garden in a few hours. Thankfully they are confined to a small area. It reminds me of a locust. Still cool though. Nature is always cool.
I cut every other bar out of my bug zapper, so they could get in.
THAT'S FUNNY !!!!!! Priceless.....
And if it were from Australia it would have razor-sharp pincers that could cut through steel, shoot fire from its eyes and it's skin would be coated with acid.