{"id":1331,"date":"2014-07-23T14:48:26","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T02:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one_of_the_largest_living_insects\/"},"modified":"2014-07-23T14:48:26","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T02:48:26","slug":"one-of-the-largest-living-insects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/","title":{"rendered":"one of the largest living insects?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> If you don&#039;t like spiders then you probably wouldn&#039;t like this either: from China come reports of what&#039;s claimed to be the largest known aquatic insect. (I can&#039;t find any actual published scientific descriptions of the creature; it will be nice to see the claim confirmed &#8211; or denied! &#8211; as it&#039;s a pretty impressive specimen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cryptozoonews.com\/dobsonfly\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ALnpg9C\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/ALnpg9C.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p> My first thought on seeing this image was, a dobsonfly! I&#039;ve not ever seen an adult specimen, but the aquatic larvae I encountered when running a macroinvertebrate lab class (way back in my Massey days) have equally impressive mandibles &#8211; hence the nickname of &#039;toe biters&#039;. Given that the adult Megalopteran pictured here has a 21cm wingspan (!), I wouldn&#039;t care to encounter its larvae when paddling in a stream.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.scientificamerican.com\/running-ponies\/2014\/07\/22\/largest-aquatic-insect-in-the-world-found-in-china\/\">Becky Crew has a great take on this creature on her Running Ponies blog<\/a>, including some fascinating info on other giants of the insect world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you don&#039;t like spiders then you probably wouldn&#039;t like this either: from China come reports of what&#039;s claimed to be the largest known aquatic insect. (I can&#039;t find any actual published scientific descriptions of the creature; it will be nice to see the claim confirmed &#8211; or denied! &#8211; as it&#039;s a pretty impressive [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[38,22,14],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>one of the largest living insects? : BioBlog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"one of the largest living insects? : BioBlog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you don&#039;t like spiders then you probably wouldn&#039;t like this either: from China come reports of what&#039;s claimed to be the largest known aquatic insect. (I can&#039;t find any actual published scientific descriptions of the creature; it will be nice to see the claim confirmed &#8211; or denied! &#8211; as it&#039;s a pretty impressive [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BioBlog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-23T02:48:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/ALnpg9C.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alison\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AcampbelTeacher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alison\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/\",\"name\":\"one of the largest living insects? : BioBlog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/ALnpg9C.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-23T02:48:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-23T02:48:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/#\/schema\/person\/9676347d9dce672ed12b14407e623cea\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/ALnpg9C.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/ALnpg9C.jpg\",\"width\":636,\"height\":471},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"one of the largest living insects?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/\",\"name\":\"BioBlog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/#\/schema\/person\/9676347d9dce672ed12b14407e623cea\",\"name\":\"Alison\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AcampbelTeacher\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/author\/acampbel\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"one of the largest living insects? : BioBlog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"one of the largest living insects? : BioBlog","og_description":"If you don&#039;t like spiders then you probably wouldn&#039;t like this either: from China come reports of what&#039;s claimed to be the largest known aquatic insect. (I can&#039;t find any actual published scientific descriptions of the creature; it will be nice to see the claim confirmed &#8211; or denied! &#8211; as it&#039;s a pretty impressive [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/","og_site_name":"BioBlog","article_published_time":"2014-07-23T02:48:26+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/ALnpg9C.jpg"}],"author":"Alison","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AcampbelTeacher","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alison","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/","name":"one of the largest living insects? : BioBlog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/ALnpg9C.jpg","datePublished":"2014-07-23T02:48:26+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-23T02:48:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/#\/schema\/person\/9676347d9dce672ed12b14407e623cea"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-NZ","@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/ALnpg9C.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/ALnpg9C.jpg","width":636,"height":471},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2014\/07\/one-of-the-largest-living-insects\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"one of the largest living insects?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/","name":"BioBlog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/#\/schema\/person\/9676347d9dce672ed12b14407e623cea","name":"Alison","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/AcampbelTeacher"],"url":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/author\/acampbel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}