Image: Largest insects size comparison

Description: Largest modern and fossil known insects. All at the same scale. Left column (from top to bottom):

• Megasoma actaeon (Linnaeus, 1758). Modern, south America. Larva is the heaviest measured insect. • Coscinocera hercules Miskin, 1876. Modern, Australia. Largest measured wing area. • Homoioptera gigantea Agnus, 1902. Carboniferous, France. One of the largest well conserved Palaeodictyoptera. Reconstructed with complementary data from Homoioptera vorhallensis. • Titanus giganteus (Linnaeus, 1771). Modern, south America. Longest beetle without jaws and horns. • Gigatitan similis Sharov, 1968. Triassic, Uzbekistan. Largest known insect of Mesozoic, potentially one of the heaviest insect. Reconstructed with Gigatitan vulgaris and personal interpretations. Stockiest possible morphology.

Central column (from top to bottom):

• Mazothairos enormis Kukalová-Peck & Richardson, 1983. Carboniferous, United States of America. Potential largest Palaeodictyoptera, very incomplete. Reconstructed with complementary data from Mazonopterum wolfforum and Homoioptera vorhallensis. • Eurycnema versirubra (Serville, 1838). Modern, Indonesia. One of the largest winged Phasmatodea. • Meganeuropsis permiana Carpenter, 1939. Permian, United States of America. Largest known insect by wingspan. Reconstructed with complementary data from Meganeura monyi, Megatypus schucherti, Meganeurula selysii and Namurotypus sippeli. Body length calculated with wing surface-body volume ratio from Namurotypus sippeli. • Phryganistria sp.. Not formally described or identified specimen as of January 2020, referred as ‘Phryganistria chinensis’. Modern, China. The longest known insect, even without legs.

Right column (from top to bottom):

• Clatrotitan scullyi (Tillyard, 1925). Triassic, Australia. Another large Titanoptera, with broader wings than Gigatitan. Reconstructed with complementary data from Gigatitan vulgaris and personal interpretations. Thinner morphology. • Kalligramma haeckeli Walther 1904. Jurassic, Germany. Largest known Neuroptera. Reconstructed with complementary data from Oreogramma illecebrosa. • Bojophlebia prokopi Kukalová-Peck, 1985. Carboniferous, Czech Republic. Very large enigmatic insect, only one well conserved specimen is known. All non-conserved parts are personal interpretations. • Arachanacris tenuipes Giebel, 1861. Modern, Indonesia. One of the largest, if not the largest, modern Orthoptera by wingspan. • Thysania agrippina (Cramer, 1776). Modern, south and central America. Largest modern Lepidoptera by wingspan.

Note: All fossil insects are based on fragmentary specimens and their reconstructions are hypothetical.
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