# BIG bugs
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 8, 2009, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377 "2009-04-08T11:27:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/1 "2009-04-08T11:27:16Z")
Inspired by **stoid** ’s spider thread in the Pit, I did a little googling in an effort to find the biggest, nastiest bug out there. I might have found it:
If you are frightened by the size of the Australian [Huntsman Spider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsman_spider), I’m sure you won’t be happy to know that they are by no means the largest land-living arthropods out there. Check out the [Coconut](http://entertheoctopus.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/coconut-crabs/) [Crab](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_crab) - an absolute abomination of a crustacean. Living on islands in much of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, it can weigh up to 9 pounds(!) and feeds (among other things) on coconuts that it _breaks open with its claws._
It might not be as dangerous as some of the arachnids, but I still wouldn’t want a close encounter with one.
So. - Anyone got anything bigger that still qualifies as a bug?
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/2 "2009-04-08T13:02:04Z")
The drawing of the spider wasn’t so bad, but if those photos of the coconut crab are for real, there aren’t enough :eek:s in the world to express my horror.
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### Author:  [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/3 "2009-04-08T13:14:42Z")
[Bat-eating centipedes of Venezuela](http://gprime.net/video.php/bateatingcentipede). I don’t think it qualifies on the BIG front (though 13 inches is more centipede than I ever want to deal with, thank you very much.), but on the Nastiest side, I think this fills the bill nicely.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/4 "2009-04-08T13:14:45Z")
> [@Panurge](#):
>
> So. - Anyone got anything bigger that still qualifies as a bug?
According to Wikipedia, the coconut crab may be at the size limit for terrestrial arthropods. If so, it’s unlikely anyone will top this 16 pound, three-foot-wide crab with coconut-cracking strength that likes to climb trees.
They’d be much creepier if they fed by jumping out of trees, which I’m sure wouldn’t happen unless they mistook your unsuspecting head for a coconut. Cool colors, though.
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### Author:  [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/5 "2009-04-08T13:19:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> They’d be much creepier if they fed by jumping out of trees, which I’m sure wouldn’t happen unless they mistook your unsuspecting head for a coconut. Cool colors, though.
You just found yourself a horror movie plot. The next evolution in coconut crab behavious - falling out of trees onto unsuspecting people’s heads and going for the jugular. The only possible retaliation would be to nuke them from orbit…
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### Author:  [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/6 "2009-04-08T13:21:29Z")
Holy shit, ohmygod, that coconut crab. There is no freaking way I’m clicking on the ink for centipedes.
Oh, why did I open this thread???
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/7 "2009-04-08T13:24:34Z")
> [@Panurge](#):
>
> So. - Anyone got anything bigger that still qualifies as a bug?
Given our motto of fighting ignorance and all, I should point out that the critters in your OP qualify as a bug. Technically, bugs are a specific order of insect (Hemiptera), but even in common usage, bug refers to insects, not any old arthropod.
If crabs do count, by the way, there are water-dwelling crabs (e.g., some king crabs) that are much larger than the coconut crab.
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/8 "2009-04-08T13:28:15Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> According to Wikipedia, the coconut crab may be at the size limit for terrestrial arthropods. If so, it’s unlikely anyone will top this 16 pound, three-foot-wide crab with coconut-cracking strength that likes to climb trees.
The absolute largest, on the other hand, is that unholy terror of the deep known as the [spider crab](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_spider_crab). I saw a couple of those suckers in an aquarium- horror movie material if I ever saw one.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/9 "2009-04-08T13:29:34Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#):
>
> You just found yourself a horror movie plot. The next evolution in coconut crab behavious - falling out of trees onto unsuspecting people’s heads and going for the jugular. The only possible retaliation would be to nuke them from orbit…
Which leads to Crabzilla. Yes, it’s all in my script for _Ten-Legged Freaks_ (an improvement on its predecessor because it has the hypen in the title). Michael Chabon’s going to do the novelization.
I don’t like bugs at all but I usually find these threads to be cool for some reason. While some of the critters make me want to permanently avoid whatever hemisphere they are located in, that Japanese giant hornet is badass. Apparently is nickname is “yak killer.” I’ll let that sink in for a minute.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/10 "2009-04-08T13:51:48Z")
> [@phall0106](#):
>
> Holy shit, ohmygod, that coconut crab. There is no freaking way I’m clicking on the ink for centipedes.
>
> Oh, why did I open this thread???
I stuck my toe in that pond and had to bail before it attacked anything.
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### Author:  [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/11 "2009-04-08T15:44:31Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#):
>
> Given our motto of fighting ignorance and all, I should point out that the critters in your OP qualify as a bug. Technically, bugs are a specific order of insect (Hemiptera), but even in common usage, bug refers to insects, not any old arthropod.
>
> If crabs do count, by the way, there are water-dwelling crabs (e.g., some king crabs) that are much larger than the coconut crab.
Fair enough. I just figured that “BIG bugs” would attract more views than “Awful arthropods” 🙂
And I know about the larger crabs and lobsters, but they aren’t as frightening to me as a 9 lb bone-crushing, exoskeleton-wearing, _land-living_ critter. They _could_ be in your house right now, you know.
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/12 "2009-04-08T16:00:51Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> The absolute largest, on the other hand, is that unholy terror of the deep known as the [spider crab](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_spider_crab). I saw a couple of those suckers in an aquarium- horror movie material if I ever saw one.
Thirteen feet across? _Thirteen feet across?_ :eek:
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/13 "2009-04-08T18:46:39Z")
> [@Panurge](#):
>
> Fair enough. I just figured that “BIG bugs” would attract more views than “Awful arthropods” 🙂
Ah–Alliteration! Colossal Crustaceans? Extreme Exoskeletons? Immense Insects? Stupendous Spiders? Brobdingnagian Beetles? 😃
> [@Panurge](#):
>
> And I know about the larger crabs and lobsters, but they aren’t as frightening to me as a 9 lb bone-crushing, exoskeleton-wearing, _land-living_ critter. They _could_ be in your house right now, you know.
You mean I _used to_ have a loverly bunch of coconuts? But not any more, because the colossal coconut-crunching crab devoured them?
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/14 "2009-04-08T19:07:39Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#):
>
> I stuck my toe in that pond and had to bail before it attacked anything.
Take it from me: Good move. The goddamn thing ate a BAT. They say it’s a foot long, but it looked three times that size.
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### Author:  [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/15 "2009-04-08T19:17:35Z")
Giant crabs don’t bother me - I’d eat them long before they ate me - but I couldn’t make it through that centipede video. Why did I open this thread during my _lunch_ break?
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### Author:  [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/16 "2009-04-08T19:47:20Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#):
>
> Ah–Alliteration! Colossal Crustaceans? Extreme Exoskeletons? Immense Insects? Stupendous Spiders? Brobdingnagian Beetles? 😃
>
> You mean I _used to_ have a loverly bunch of coconuts? But not any more, because the colossal coconut-crunching crab devoured them?
Um. Yeah - that’s exactly what I meant. No more coconutty deliciousness for you. 😃
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/17 "2009-04-08T19:49:03Z")
> [@phall0106](#):
>
> Holy shit, ohmygod, that coconut crab.
Dad-a-chum? Did-a-chick? :eek:
Damn me for staying up late last night, reading “The Drawing of the Three”.
Lobstrosities…
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/18 "2009-04-08T19:56:31Z")
> [@The\_Weird\_One](#):
>
> Giant crabs don’t bother me - I’d eat them long before they ate me - but I couldn’t make it through that centipede video. Why did I open this thread during my _lunch_ break?
D’oh! That’s gonna leave a mark. A puke-shaped mark. I hope you weren’t eating in your cube.
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/19 "2009-04-08T20:14:19Z")
Would a crab that lived on coconuts taste coconutt-y? If so, it sounds like it’s halfway to a Thai curry.
ETA: Does “bug” automatically mean “insect”? I always sort of used the word “bugs” to include insects AND spiders and their ilk.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bugs/492377/20 "2009-04-08T20:32:17Z")
There’s always the Belostomatidae, aka Toe-Biter:
> [@](#):
>
> They often lie motionless at the bottom of a body of water, attached to various objects, where they wait for prey to come near. They then strike, injecting a powerful digestive saliva with their mouthparts, and sucking out the liquefied remains. Their bite is considered one of the most painful that can be inflicted by any insect; the longer the bug is allowed to inject its saliva, the worse the resulting bite, and as the saliva liquefies muscle tissue, it can in rare instances do permanent damage. Adults cannot breathe under water, and must surface periodically for air. Occasionally when encountered by a larger predator, such as a human, they have been known to “play dead” and emit a fluid from their anus. Due to this they are assumed dead by humans only to later “come alive” with painful results.
Here’s a [picture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toe-Biter.jpg) of one carrying its eggs.
Cheers!
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