World's biggest insect is so huge it eats carrots

Junglekeeper · Dec 2, 2011

World's biggest insect is so huge it eats carrots.

Mark Moffett has found the world's biggest insect...He came across the cricket-like creature, which has a wing span of seven inches..."The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found, she weighs the equivalent to three mice.
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Ron B · Dec 3, 2011

The claim of

>a wing span of seven inches<

must be a mistake, as these are usually wingless, right? I don't see any in the photo.

Michael F · Dec 3, 2011

Carrot flies also eat carrots, and they're tiny ;-)

Junglekeeper · Dec 3, 2011

World's biggest bug? That depends...

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.
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Weta minute - he's a wee 'un.

New Zealand insect expert, bug man Ruud Kleinpaste, a trustee of Little Barrier Island Supporters Trust, has played down the significance of the find.

"There's nothing unusual to find these weta," Kleinpaste said, though he thought the publicity for the species could be a good thing...Kleinpaste thought Moffett...might be a "poser" as it was normal to feed weta carrots.
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World's biggest insect is so huge it eats carrots

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