Discover the largest insect that lived on Earth | History Channel Brasil

Currently, there are big insects, but which is the biggest that 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 measured an impressive 72 centimeters and weighed around 450 g.

Meganeuropsis permiana

This species of giant dragonfly was called Meganeuropsis permiana and flew over 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 not all of them were the same size, so paleontologists do not rule out the possibility of the existence of larger specimens.

But, discovering other fossilized examples of Meganeuropsis permiana it is a difficult task. This is because it is very rare to find insect fossils. Because these creatures don’t have bones, they don’t fossilize in the same way as animals like mammals, fish, birds, and reptiles.

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