No, I wasn’t planning on sleeping tonight anyway. Or the rest of this month, for that matter. Earlier this month in Sichuan, China, the Insect Museum of West China went on an expedition and found the largest dobsonfly of its kind, Xinhua reports. Look at those mandibles. They are pure nightmare fuel.
If you are wondering how big this particular insect is, its wingspan measures 21cm. Previously, the largest specimen was found in Brazil and had a wingspan of 19.1cm. This bug, it seems, can be found in many different countries. That’s comforting.
Apparently, your standard male and female dobsonflies can have wingspans of 13cm. Well, that’s horrifying.
If these numbers still don’t compute, ChinaNews has a photo of this water bug compared with an egg.
Run!
四川发现世界最大水栖昆虫 最大翅展达到21厘米 [People.cn]
四川省で世界最大の水生昆虫を発見、翼開長２１センチメートル―中国メディア [Xinhua]
Comments
4 responses to “Terrifyingly Large Insect Found In China”
Hello there mega pinsir
why is this on kotaku?
Part of me is calling fake on this.
Hmm could be mate but new insects (and abnormally large specimens) are being found all the time. Unusual maybe due to being a low diversity order of insect (Megaloptera). By the way, the male here with the large mandibles aren’t of much concern. The jaws are far too big and unwieldy to inflict a hard bite, more to show off to the ladies. Apparently the females with their short, sharp jaws are to be handled more carefully. Happy invertebrate hunting!
I wonder what they taste like? Is the egg in the picture a serving suggestion?
Lol! My mum loves offal soup, and sea cucumber hotpot. So, I know for a fact that she would eat that disgusting bastard up there! …