Discover the largest insect that ever lived on Earth

There are currently large insects, but what are the largest insects that have ever lived? To find the answer, it is necessary to travel to 1939, to the North American state of Kansas, where paleontologist Frank M. Carpenter found the fossil of something very similar to a dragonfly, but much larger. The creature is 72 cm long and weighs about 450 grams.

Meganeuropsis permiana

This type was called the giant dragonfly Meganeuropsis permiana It flew above the Earth in the Paleozoic era, from the Late Carboniferous to the Late Permian, about 317 to 247 million years ago. It is believed that they were not all the same size, so paleontologists do not rule out the possibility of larger specimens.

But the discovery of other fossilized examples of Meganeuropsis permiana It’s a complicated topic. This is because it is very rare to find insect fossils. Because these creatures do not have bones, they do not fossilize in the same way that animals such as mammals, fish, birds, and reptiles do.

Scientists say so the Meganeuropsis permiana It was twice the size of today’s largest insectThe stick insect, Dryococelus australis. Furthermore, they explain that its large size was related to the hot and dry climate of the time, as well as the presence of large amounts of oxygen in the atmosphere. When these conditions changed, many species disappeared and others became smaller.