Top Ten Macabrely Coolest Bugs in the World

Dog Flea

These wingless parasites have nothing to their credit apart from their insatiable appetite for blood and their phenomenal jumping ability. Although people often say they have been bitten by a flea, fleas don’t bite. Instead, they saw through the skin using their jagged-edged mandibles, then dribble their saliva, which contains an anti-coagulant, on the wound to keep the blood flowing. The saliva is also what causes the skin irritation from the flea’s feeding session.

Madagascan Sunset Moth

To set the record straight at the beginning, moths are not simply nocturnal butterflies; there are distinct differences between the two. The Madagascan Sunset Moth is a day-flying moth and arguably the most beautiful of the lepidopterans (moths and butterflies), making them highly sought after by collectors.

Black Bulldog Ant

Australia lays claim to a large number of unique and dangerous animals. The Black Bulldog Ant, which is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the deadliest ant in the world, bites and stings simultaneously. It has been known to cause human deaths, although to be fair, the cause of death was anaphylactic shock. In the three recorded fatalities in Australia, death occurred within fifteen minutes of the onset of the attack.

Hercules Beetle

Pound for pound, as the saying goes, the Hercules Beetle is not only one of the strongest insects on earth, but it is also one of the strongest creatures on earth. How often have you heard someone strong being compared to an ox? Oxen have nothing on this beetle. Dynastes hercules can lift and carry 850 times its own body weight, equivalent to a human carrying seven elephants.

Common Green Darner

With independent wing control giving them the ability to fly forward, backward, and sideways and hover and turn ninety degrees in a couple of wingbeats, dragonflies make the most advanced modern aircraft look primitive. They are also very fast. The world speed title goes to a North American dragonfly, the Common Green Darner, which given its name, is unsurprisingly ubiquitous throughout North America.

Brazilian Treehopper

The Brazilian Treehopper has a weird crown of balls on its head and is apparently lazy. The purpose of this regal anatomical feature is something of a mystery to scientists who have at least ruled out any sexual function, given that both males and females of the species have the balls. Their best guess is that it is a defensive weapon designed to discourage predators. If not functioning as a decoy head like some other creatures have, then perhaps it’s there because it is similar in appearance to the results from having a parasitic fungus invade your body.

Junk Bug

The junk bug, also known as an aphid lion, is a common voracious predator around the world. The bug is actually the larval stage of the green lacewing, a delicate and lovely flying insect with vibrant and limey green bodies, large eyes, and big, diaphanous wings sporting an intricate filigree of veins that call to mind fairies more than bugs.

Ladybug

Lady beetles, or ladybugs, may look pretty, and they are certainly relatively harmless, but they are disease-infested cannibals that may eat up to 5,000 insects during their lifetime, including their siblings. Harlequin ladybugs, also call Harlequin ladybirds, are the chief offenders, with many other species only resorting to eating their own family members when food supplies are low.

Dracula Ant

The agile and possibly psychotic Dracula ant, motoring at 90 meters per second, is the fastest animal in the world. Not only do they move super quickly over the ground, but according to National Geographic, their bite is the fastest animal movement on record. The biting action is similar to the way we snap our fingers, with stored energy producing sound in the case of our fingers and a devastatingly fast bite in the case of these ants.

Twisted Wing Parasite

There are many examples of parasitic behavior in the animal and plant kingdoms. It doesn’t bother us at all when we hear examples of plants living off other plants because plants don’t have feelings, but when the talk turns to animals, it starts to become uncomfortable. When humans describe other humans as parasites, it is a high-level insult. We don’t see “bloodsucking” behavior as good even though we accept it among animal species because it is natural.