The fastest insect in the world.
Perhaps you have ever had a question, what is the fastest insect in the world? It's an Australian dragonfly! In order to survive and skillfully escape from enemies, the Australian dragonfly uses its wings. It can reach a speed of 58 km/h. There was even a record recorded for this dragonfly, whose maximum speed was 100 km/h. Such speed can be achieved by flapping the wings a hundred times in one second! This is incredible!
This unique ability of the Australian dragonfly is achieved due to its special design of the flywheel apparatus. To ensure their flight, ordinary dragonflies alternately flap their front and rear pairs of wings. The Australian dragonfly flaps all its wings simultaneously to achieve top speed!
Thus, Australian dragonfly- This is the fastest insect.
Life activity of the Australian dragonfly.
All dragonflies are predators, and Australian dragonflies are no exception. They feed on mosquitoes, midges and other harmful insects, grabbing them on the fly. In order to navigate in space as well as possible, nature awarded the Australian dragonfly with unusual eyes. Their peculiarity is that each eye consists of a large number of facets, the upper ones distinguishing shape, and the lower ones distinguishing colors.
The females of the Australian dragonfly are quite cunning, so that the males do not distract them from the important task of laying eggs, they can imitate their colors. Eggs are laid in water or aquatic plants, very rarely - into wet soil.
It turns out that the larvae of the Australian dragonfly are also predators by nature; they feed on the larvae of aquatic insects. Also, the larvae of the Australian dragonfly often become food for fish. After the larva “grows” it attaches itself to plants or to uneven soil.
The highest flight speed is achieved by the moth moth (Agrotis ipsilon), which ranges from 97 to 113 km/h. The direct flight speed of a butterfly depends on its mass; air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed are also taken into account. Dragonflies, hornets, and bees fly quite quickly.
Dragonflies are considered the fastest flyers among insects. Some species of these insects can reach speeds of up to 55-60 kilometers per hour.
Some butterflies fly at almost the same speed, which seems very surprising, because for us a butterfly appears to be slowly flapping its wings, and many are sure to catch butterflies with their hands in flight. But there are butterflies, for example some hawk moths, that fly at speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour. If you look at a photograph of such an insect, you can see a certain similarity with modern high-speed aircraft in the shape of wings:
Locusts also fly quite quickly, up to 35 kilometers per hour.
The profession of a person who studies flying insects is called an Entomologist. These scientists have proven that DRAGONFLY is the fastest flying insect in the world. After conducting research on the speed of insects, they found out that the dragonfly can reach speeds of up to 55-60 km per hour.
Insects, despite their small size, can fly quickly. They are virtuosos in the air; they not only fly, but also know how to hover in one place. For example, bells beat their wings up to 1000 times per second.
However, the fastest and most maneuverable of insects are dragonflies. They can fly at an average speed of 40 km/h, and briefly up to 55 or 65 km/h. Among other insects, only a few can temporarily maintain a speed of 16 km/h. Dragonflies, on the other hand, can hover in place and make quick and rapid turns up, down and to the sides.
The fastest insect is the dragonfly. Indeed, when you watch dragonflies on a pond, it is very difficult to catch its movement; just a second ago it was here, but now you have to look for it, where did it move in a second.
The record holder for the fastest flight is the Dragonfly, which lives in Australia. She can accelerate her wings to almost 60 kilometers per hour!
For us humans, such a speed does not seem very high... But if you consider that the average statistical dragonfly flies at a speed of about 30 kilometers per hour, then doubling this speed by the Australian dragonfly significantly changes the situation!
In fact, the fastest flying insect is considered to be the dragonfly, and among the dragonflies themselves, the Australian dragonfly is Austrohplebia stails. This dragonfly usually flies at a speed of about 30 km/h, and the maximum recorded speed is 52 km/h. Among walking insects, the record belongs to the American cockroach - 5.4 km/h.
The flight speed of insects is influenced by many factors: air temperature, wind strength, humidity, and the weight of the insect itself. Dragonflies are often called the fastest, but some insist on hawk moths and horseflies.
Gadfly - 40 km/h This hefty buzzer can hit you hard.
The fastest insects in the world are able to compete in the speed of movement even with such a lightning-fast animal as the cheetah, which breaks all records among predators, reaching speeds of up to 120 km/h. This feature plays important role for some arthropods, as it helps them provide for themselves required quantity food or provides shelter from predators.
The readers are presented with the 10 fastest inhabitants of the Earth among insects.
Desert Locust is one of the fastest insects on Earth with a moving speed of up to 15 km/h in calm weather. Agricultural pests are able to travel a distance of 80 to 120 km per day. These insects are very voracious and fly in huge flocks, destroying all vegetation in their path.
Sea water strider with a moving speed of 3.5 km/h or 58 meters per minute, it is included in the list of the fastest insects on Earth. Thanks to the special structure of the body and legs, it glides through the water like a speed skater. When encountering an obstacle in its path, the water strider easily overcomes it, making a sharp jump. The paws of an aquatic inhabitant remain dry while sliding through the water, thanks to a fatty substance, which also facilitates movement.
Butterfly with an unusual name Dead Head is one of the fastest flying insects with speeds of up to 60 km/h. During the migration period, the insect is capable of rising to a height of up to 2.5 thousand meters above sea level. It got its name because of the characteristic pattern on the chest, reminiscent of a human skull. In addition, the butterfly is one of the largest in Europe and Russia. The death's head can often be found in the vicinity of domestic or wild bee hives, as it loves to feast on honey.
Bees They are among the ten fastest insects in the world with a maximum unloaded flight speed of 65 km/h. In search of pollen and nectar, some individuals can move away from the apiary to a distance of 3-14 kilometers. Bees spend up to 12 hours a day working. To collect 1 kg of nectar they have to make up to 150 flights. This means that the insect will have to fly an average of 450 km. In its entire life, a bee could circle the Earth's equator 10 times.
Jumping beetle- the fastest land insect in the world, with a movement speed of 2 m/s, which is equivalent to 7.2 km/h. If it were the size of a person, it could run at a speed of 200 km/h. For Agriculture the horse plays an important role as a predator controlling the number of pests. The beetle got its name because of a peculiar feature of running: they periodically stop for a split second, because due to the high speed they lose their visual ability and cannot quickly orient themselves.
African desert ants During the nomadic period, it moves on average at a speed of 5 meters per minute. Otherwise they are called nomadic ants due to the fact that they constantly migrate, stopping only to spend the night and lay eggs. Nomads move in a column, which consists of a “head” 10-15 meters wide and up to 2 meters long. The tail of the column can stretch up to 45 meters. In Africa they are classified as devouring everything in their path. Passing through villages, they exterminate not only insects, but also small farm animals: rabbits, pigs, sheep.
Horsefly with a maximum flight speed of 60 km/h it is one of the fastest insects in the world. The two-winged creature has not only good speed, but also very high endurance. Horseflies adapt perfectly to almost any living conditions. It is distributed on all continents except Antarctica. In total, there are more than 4 thousand species of these arthropods, but the most common and famous of them are three: bovine, rainflies and lacewings. Horseflies are considered very voracious: one individual is capable of drinking blood at one time, as much as 70 mosquitoes drink. Moreover, only females feed on blood after mating before laying eggs.
African cockroach, with an average speed of 5.4 km/h, is considered one of the fastest land insects on Earth. Having the size of a cheetah, it could move at a speed of 80 km/h. In addition, the cockroach literally lightning-fast reaction, thanks to well-developed reflexes. On its paws there are small hairs that are able to detect the slightest movement of air caused by the approach of any living creature. Using high-speed cameras, it was recorded that the insect is capable of changing direction of movement up to 25 times per second. According to one version, the word cockroach comes from the word “to run away.”
Darner's dragonfly is capable of reaching speeds in flight of up to 100 km/h, which gives it the right to bear the title of the fastest insect in the world. The special structure of the wings allows it to develop such speed in flight. An insect makes 100 to 150 movements of its wings per second. Fast flight allows the dragonfly to hide from pursuing predators. In addition, she herself is a good hunter and has unique vision: 80% of her brain is used for vision, and her eyes have about 30 thousand micro-eyes.
A matter of life and death
For most living beings on the planet, speed of movement is a matter of life and death. Some of them become real record holders for speed of movement. The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is recognized as the fastest land insect. In 1 second, he is able to cover a distance exceeding the length of his body by 50 times. If a person ran at such a speed, then there would be no need for cars. In this case, people could reach speeds of up to 330 km/h.
Tropical cockroach
Officially, the cockroach speed record is registered in the USA. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, witnessed the large tropical cockroach Periplaneta americana (family Dictyoptera) reach a speed of 5.4 km/h, which is equal to the speed of a fast human step. And our Russian “Prussians” don’t just fall into our hands either. Just remember how quickly they scatter around the corners if you turn on the light in the kitchen at night.
Australian dragonfly
But the fastest insect in the air is the dragonfly. Its speed is even greater than that of a cockroach - 30 km/hour. Australian dragonfly - southern giant rocker (Austrophlebia costalis) over short distances it can reach speeds of up to 58 km/h. There is also evidence of cases where a dragonfly flew at a speed of 100 km/h, while making 100-150 movements of its wings per second.
Darner's dragonfly
True, only one type of dragonfly is capable of flying so fast - Darner's dragonfly or springtime darner. Such unusually high speed indicators of the dragonfly are achieved due to the special flywheel apparatus of its wings. It would probably be scary to collide in the night with its ancestor - an ancient dragonfly, whose wingspan was about 20 cm. At such a flight speed, a head-on collision would bring a lot of trouble.