Buggy Records
Biggest, fastest, fattest, longest...
The Biggest...
Butterfly
The Cairns Birdwing Butterfly (Ornithoptera euphorion) is the largest native butterfly in Australia. Females are slightly larger than the males and have a wingspan of around 16cm. The caterpillars of this species eat species of pipe vine which include Aristolochia tagala and Pararistolochia deltanth. This species prefers the rainforests but can also be found in parks and gardens south from Mount Webb and Cooktown to Mackay. The adult butterflies will live for 4-5 weeks.
The biggest butterfly in the world however is the Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) which comes from Northern Papua New Guinea. It reaches a massive size of 30cm across the wings and can weigh up to 12 grams. It is aso listed an endangered species because it is now restricted to a 100 square kilometer area of coastal rainforest near Popondetta.
Cockroach
The Giant Burrowing Cockroach (Macropanesthia rhinoceros) is the largest and heaviest cockroach in the world. This cockroach weights up to 35grams and is native to North Queensland and Western NSW. It is also called the rhinoceros cockroach or litter bug and is sold commonly as a pet throughout Australia. This cockroach will eat dry eucalyptus leaves and other leaf litter, so does not carry the diseases some introduced cockroaches do. The Giant Burrowing Cockroach plays a vital role in the ecosystem as it helps to break down dead eucalyptus leaves so that they can be recycled by other organisms, they also live in a permanent burrow which can be up to 1meter in depth. The female cockroach can have up to 30 live young at a time which will stay in her burrow for around 9 months. During this time the mother will collect suitable food and bring it back to the burrow for the babies to eat.
Stick Insect
The longest known stick insect in Australia is the Titan stick insect (Acrophylla titan) can reach up to 23cm and is a variety of PHASMID. At the moment this is classed as the longest stick insect in Australia but there are many unconfirmed reports of even longer stick insect sightings! The titan stick insect is brown to grey in colour and looks very much like a stick. This is so that it is well camouflaged in the trees in which it lives. Even though the females have wings they are poor flyers because of their size. The males are much smaller than the females and so can fly around easily to look for a mate. There are around 150 different species of phasmids in Australia.
The longest known stick insect in the world is Chan's Megastick (Phobaeticus chani), with one specimen held in the Natural History Museum in London measuring 567 millimetres in total length. This also happens to be the ongest known insect in the world.
Land Snail
The Giant Panda Snail (Hedleyella falconeri) is the largest land snail in Australia. It can live for around 10 years and can grow to the size of a tennis ball. They are found along the east coast from the Mid North Coast of NSW up to Brisbane in QLD. The Giant Panda snail is normally found in sub tropical environments among leaf litter but are mostly nocturnal so are rarely seen in the wild. These snails mostly eat fungus and will feed after rain or heavy mists. Being Australia’s largest snail it also has the largest egg of any Australian snail which can be up to 20mm in diameter.
The largest land snail in the world is the Giant African snail (Achatina achatina) which can weigh up to 1 kg and measure 35 cm long. This snail is native to East Africa but is classes as a pest in many countries because of it's invasive nature. It has since been introduced into Asia, the West Indies and the Pacific Islands.
Ant
The Bull Ant (Myrmecia brevinoda) is the largest ant in Australia and can grow up to 1cm in length. Bull ants have very large jaws and a stinger on their abdomen which can both be very painful. Bull ants use these powerful jaws to defend their nest as well as to dismember prey into smaller pieces so that it is more easily carried back to the nest. There are around 90 different species of bull ants which are found all though out Australia.
The largest ant in the world is the female Driver Ant (Dorylus helvolus). Dorylus is an African and Asian genus of predatory nomadic ants. The surface-foraging species conduct spectacular raids and are often refered to as driver or safari ants. The females of this species can grow up to 5cm length!
The Fastest....
So what is the dastest insect in the world?? According to www.csiro.au
it's the green tiger beetle. They say it can travel a metre in just a second. 
But according to www.worldalmanacforkids.com it's the dragonfly at about 16 metres per second.
So...on the ground it's the tiger beetle. In the air, it's the dragonfly!
The Rarest...
The rarest insect in the world is Australia's own Lord Howe Island Stick insect (Dryococelus australis). These unusual phasmids live a semi-terrestrial life and prefer to congregate in groups on the ground. This is unusual because normally most stick insects live in the safeyt of the trees. This species was thought to be extinct due to the accidental introduction of rats to Lord Howe Island in 1918. But in 1999 a small population was re-discovered on Balls Pyramid (off the coast of NSW). The Melbourne Zoo has helped to increase the population of this unusual species and once all of the rats are removed from the island the Long lost phasmid will be re-introduced.