Australia’s Largest Insects

 

Australia’s Largest Insect: 

Titan stick insect (Acrophylla titan)

Ctenamorpha species of stick insect found in the wet tropics. An overall body length measuring up to 50 cms.

Australia’s Largest Butterfly:

Cairns Birdwing
(Ornithoptera euphorion)

A wingspan of up to 18cms.

Photo: © australian-insects.com


Largest spider in Australia: 

Whistling Spiders or Bird-eating Spiders (Selenocosmia crassipes)

Up to 6cm in body length and a total length of 16cm (amonline, 2006).

Photo: © Steve Nunn.


Australia’s Heaviest Stick Insect:

Goliath stick insect (Eurycnema goliath)

Smaller than the titan (stick insect), but weighing up to 30 grams.

Photo: © australian-insects.com


Australia’s Largest Cicada:

Double Drummer (Thopha saccata)

The largest cicada in Australia with a wingspan up to 13cm. It is also the loudest insect in the world!

Photo: © australianfauna.com


Australia’s Largest Ant:

Bulldog ant (Myrmecia brevinoda)

The largest ant (and probably the largest ant in the world) reaching 36mm in length.

Photo: Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.5


Australia’s Largest Bee:

Carpenter bee (Xylocopa aruana)

Wingspan up to 5cm.

Photo: © Peter Chew


Heaviest moth: 

Giant wood moth (Endoxyla cinerea)

Weighing up to 26 grams makes the Giant wood moth the heaviest moth in the World.

Photo: Unrestricted use.


Largest katydid:

Shield-backed katydid (Siliquofera sp.)

Growing to 13cm, the largest in Australia and one of the largest in the world.

Photo: © Barbara Strnadova


God of Insects

Largest fly:

Robber fly (Phellus olgae)

A wingspan of up to 8cm.

Photo: © Peter Chew


Australia’s Largest dragonfly:

Giant Petaltail (Petalura ingentissima)

A wingspan up to 15cm.

Photo: © Philip Bowles


Largest lacewing: 

Antlion lacewing (Heoclisis fulva)

A wingspan up to 15cm.

Photo: © Bill Horn


Largest grasshopper: 

Giant grasshopper (Valanga irregularis)

Photo: © australian-insects.com