Hexapoda 5 (insects) 1,2,3,4

On this page, flight data, Insect records, 4 main functions of a sense of smell in insects, loads more stuff

Insect records

Fastest flight
Austrophlebia costalis (Odonata: Aeshnidae), a dragonfly at 98 km/h
Hybomitra hinei wrighti (Diptera: Tabanidae), a fly at 145 km/h

Fastest wing beat
Forcipomyia sp. (Diptera:Ceratopogonidae), a midge, species not known can beat its wings 1046 times per second.

Fastest runner
Cicindela hudsoni, an Australian tiger beetle can run at 2.5 metres per second.

Least specific vertebrate blood sucker
Glossina palpalis (Diptera: Glossinidae), tsetse fly. It can feed on any vertebrate.

Longest
Pharnacia serratipes, a stick insect, at 55.5 cm (22 in).

Smallest adult
Dicopomorpha echmepterygis (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), a parasitic wasp. The length of the male is 139 µm.

Largest swarm
Schistocerca gregaria, the desert locust. In 1954 a swarm covering 200 km sq invaded Kenya. The swarm was estimated to contain 10 billion individuals.

Largest eggs
Xylocopa auripennis, a carpenter bee lays eggs 16.5 mm long and 3.0 mm in diameter.

Heat tolerant
Cataglyphis bicolor (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a Saharan ant which can forage at body temperature above 50^oC and surface temperature of up to 70^oC.

Cold tolerant
Polypedilum vanderplanki (Diptera), an African chironomid (midge) can survive submersion in liquid helium at -270^oC.

Most spectacular mating
Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera), the honey bee. The drone (male) dies after mating once. The queen bee files off with his phallus still in her vagina. The phallus having broken off after sperm exits explosively. The queen eventually ejects the phallus and goes on to mate again.

Longest regular migration
Danaus plexippus (Lepidoptera: Danaidae), the monarch butterfly. Some migrate more than 4000 km from Southern Canada to Central Mexico. It now looks likely that the longest migration is by dragonflies who make a 14 000 - 18 000 km round trip from India to southern Africa stopping off at the Maldives and the Seychelles.

Longest adult life
Lasius niger, ant queen survived 28.75 years in captivity.
Pogonomyrmex owyheei, ant queen, 30 estimated in the wild.

Longest life cycle
Buprestis aurulenta larva, a wood boring beetle, emerged after 51 years

Shortest adult life
Dolania americana (Ephemeroptera), a mayfly, lives for less than five minutes after her final molt. During the five minutes she chooses a mate, mates, and lays her eggs.

Shortest generation time
Rhopalosiphum prunifolia, an aphid, has the shortest generation time of 4.7 days at 25^o C.

Most polyandrous (female with highest number of mates)
Apis dorsata (Hymenoptera:Apidae) a queen bee mated 53 times, each with a different male.
Chrysochus cobaltinus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), a blue milkweed butterfly female, had up to 60 matings, though some of these were multiple matings with the same male.

Loudest
Brevisana brevis (Homoptera: Cicadidae), a cicada, produces a calling song with a mean sound pressure level of 106.7 decibels at a distance of 50 cm.

Best "new" man
Male Nicrophorus orbicollis, a burying beetle, participates in all activities, remains with the brood throughout development, and can take over all parenting responsibilities if the female disappears.

Many of the above insect records, taken from Walker, T.J., ed. 2001. University of Florida Book of Insect Records, 2001.

Fastest muscles
Termes panamensis, (a termite) has the fastest muscles in the world. It needed film shot at 40,000 frames per second to calculate the speed at which T. panamensis snaps its jaws shut, and the result is 70.4 m s-1. Its jaw muscles are so big that they fill half the space inside its head, and they are triggered by seeing an intruder's face inside the nest.

Longest sexual intercourse
In many stick insect species males are never or hardly ever seen, however in other species the males can maintain intercourse for months at a time.

Keenest sense of smell
Antheraea polyphemus, the Wild silk moth. Males can detect a single molecule released by a female ready to mate.

Champion weightlifter
Xylotrupes gideon, rhinoceros beetle, elephant beetle can lift 850 times its own body weight.

Longest tongue length to body length
Xanthopan morgani subspecies praedicta is the record holder so far, but there is probably a moth with a longer tongue out there.

Flight data from some insects
Insect	Speed m/s	Wing beats/s
Scorpion fly	0.5	28
Field grasshopper	0.5
Mosquito	0.9
Damselfly	1.5	16
Stag beetle	1.5
Ammophila wasp	1.5
House fly	2.0	190
Common wasp	2.5
Large white butterfly	2.5	12
Painted lady butterfly	4.5
Honey bee	2.5	250
Monarch butterfly	2.8
Bumblebee	3.0-4.5	125-240
Cockchafer	3.0	46
Hoverfly	3.5	120
Horse fly	4.0	96
Desert locust	4.4
Hummingbird hawk moth	5.0	80 - 85
Hornet	6.0	100
Dragonfly	7.0	38
Fruit fly (Drosophila)		300
Midge (Scottish)		>1000
German wasp, Vespula germanica		250
Swallowtail butterfly		5
Dragonfly		20-40

4 main functions of a sense of smell in insects, plus examples

Sexual attraction Gathering of male moths to a female releasing a pheromone.
Recognition of nest mates Ants, bees and wasps recognise nest mates and intruders. Ants lay down trails between nest and food source.
Egg laying attractants Blowflies and carrion beetles are attracted to rotting meat as this provides a food source and habitat for larvae.
Food attractants Dung beetles attracted to the smell of dung as a food source and also as an egg laying site.