The fossil record indicates that in past epochs insects were significantly larger than they are today. Recently, scientists in China discovered fossil fleas from the Jurassic era measuring an inch long.

A prehistoric dragonfly with the scientific name Meganeura monyi had a two and a half foot wingspan and buzzed over the hot, humid swamps that existed during the Carboniferous period (about 300 million years ago). The largest dragonflys known today seem miniscule by comparison; the largest known species from Austraila, the Giant Petaltail, has a wingspan of less than seven inches.

The reasons ancient insects grew to such a massive size are a subject of speculation among scientists today, but most scientists would agree that the age of “giant insects” is long past.

In spite of this, there are numerous reports from around the world of individuals seeing MUCH larger dragonflys. While we must consider the probability that some of these people mistook what they saw, or that as untrained observers they greatly overestimated the size of the dragonfly (a common occurrence), is it worth asking whether or not some of these prehistoric insect giants might still exist?

Discounting the possibility that the observers were looking at some sort of advanced military drone technology (Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs.) , we should consider the case of a strange bug from Australia that has been brought back from the brink of extinction in recent times.

On isolated Lord Howe island east of the Australian mainland, there was once a species of stick insect so large that European settlers called them “tree lobsters”. Unfortunately, along with the settlers came rats, and in a very short time, the stick insects were consumed by a booming rat population, and eventually considered extinct.

Some 80 years later, a small colony of these very same stick insects was found on what can only be described as a genuine “Land of the Lost”. Ball’s Pyramid, the remains of an ancient volcano, rises 1800 feet out of the ocean roughly 15 miles from Lord Howe Island. A couple of hundred feet up this stark rocky outcropping, grows a single bush that was home to 24 of the presumed-extinct tree lobsters.

So, it is at least possible for some insect populations to survive undetected, given the right circumstances for decades or even centuries … but could isolated populations survive for entire geologic epochs?

Even though our planet has been largely explored, there are still vast areas of jungle, desert and tundra about which relatively little is known. It is just barely possible that somewhere within these remote regions there exist other ecosystems isolated by geography or climate, much like Ball’s Pyramid, where the ravages of the ages and human trespass have left older inhabitants undisturbed. Only time will tell.

Robert Krulwich. (2012, February 29). Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides For 80 Years. In NPR: Krulwich Wonders … An NPR Sciency Blog. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years.

The Associated Press. (2012, February 29). Dinosaurs had fleas – and they were an inch long, fossils show. In NYDailyNews.com: Daily News World. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/dinosaurs-fleas-long-fossils-show-article-1.1030881.

Unknown. (n.d.). Giant Dragonfly. In It’s Nature Let’s Discover!. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.itsnature.org/endangered/moderately/giant-dragonfly/.

Wikipedia. (2011, March 2). Giant Petaltail. In Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Petaltail.

Wikipedia. (2012, March 1). Meganeura. In Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meganeura.

Unknown. (2011, May 9). Capung Terbesar di Dunia, Petalura ingentissima – Giant Petaltail. In Juju Jitu: Mobile Phone Photos & Scientific Classification of Flora – Fauna. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://jujujitu.blogspot.com/2011/05/capung-terbesar-di-dunia-petalura.html.

Rick Weiss. (2007, October 9). Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs. In The Washington Post: Post Business. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/08/AR2007100801434.html.

Paul Fiddian. (2009, July 15). US Military Robot Insect Technology in Progress. In Military Suppliers & News. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.armedforces-int.com/news/us-military-robot-insect-technology-in-progress.html.

Clay Dillow. (2011, October 3). Bug-Like Robotic Drones Becoming More Bug-Like, With Bulging Eyes and Tiny, Sensing Hairs. In Popsci. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/big-robotic-drones-become-more-bug-bulging-eyes-and-tiny-sensing-hairs.

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