The maximum flight speed is typical for insects such as dragonflies, hawks and higher flies. But among the land there are record holders. They can move at lightning speed, which plays a huge role for them. The rapid movement helps some species feed themselves, while others escape from other predators and not become their lunch.
Readers are presented the fastest insects in the world - top 10.
10. Locust
Locust capable of speeds up to 20 km / h in search of food. Thanks to this factor, it is included in the list of the fastest insects. With an abundance of food, the insect leads a solitary lifestyle, but with a shortage of feed, it forms huge colonies (numbering tens of millions of individuals), which begin an active search for territories rich in food. Colonies make high-speed flights mainly in the morning or in the evening, at distances of up to 100 km.
9. Flea
Flea is the fastest insect among parasites. The speed of its movement in one jump is 1.9 meters per second. In addition, the insect moves very quickly in the animal’s hair, which makes it almost invisible and elusive.
8. Water striders
Water striders considered the fastest insects that live on the surface of the water. The speed of movement on the pond on average is 4 km / h. Water striders, as if on ice, easily glide over the surface of ponds and streams. How do they manage to “walk on water” while remaining completely dry? A detailed study of the surface of the feet of the water meter gives an amazing answer. Many insects stick to the surface of the water, and the paws of the water strips are covered with wax and thousands of fluffy tiny hairs, known as microwaves, which trap air and form a floating pillow.
7. Hornet
Hornet - One of the fastest flying insects in the world with a maximum flight speed of up to 25 km / h. His main diet, in which he is constantly searching, is nectar and plant foods rich in sugar. Adults also prey on many insects, which they kill with the help of a sting and powerful jaws. Due to its size and the strength of the poison, hornets are able to kill large enough insects, including bees, grasshoppers, wasps and locusts without much effort. The victim is completely chewed, but not eaten immediately, and in the form of a suspension is fed to the larvae that develop in the nest. Given the fact that hornets eat various pests, they can be considered useful insects, albeit with some reservations.
6. Brazhniki
Brazhniki - These are butterflies that are considered the fastest in the world. When flying, lepidopteran insects can reach speeds of up to 54 km / h. They fly better than all other butterflies. They spend a lot of time in the air, and are able to hang over a flower and suck nectar from their flowers with their long proboscis. Due to this, they play a large role in pollination of flowers with deep corollas. They flap their wings very quickly, like hummingbirds, as if “standing” in the air above a flower, and they are sometimes confused with these birds. Some genera of hawks fly during the day.
5. Bee
The list of the fastest insects in the world rightfully includes bee. The bee’s flight speed is 65 km / h, which is approximately equal to the speed of the car in the city. In one flight, a bee gains nectar almost as much as it weighs. With a full honey ventricle, the bee is capable of speeds up to 30 km / h. To collect 1 kg of nectar, a bee will have to make up to 150 thousand departures from the hive. On average, a bee overcomes up to 3 kilometers in one flight. To produce a kilogram of honey, a bee needs to fly an average of 450 thousand kilometers. This means that the distance a bee flies is similar to the distance that must be flown in order to go around the Earth's equator about 10 times.
4. Horsefly
Gadgets are considered very fast flying insects capable of speeds up to 60 km / h during the mating period. Horseflies inhabit all continents except Antarctica. They are also absent in Iceland, Greenland and on some ocean islands. The largest number of horseflies, both in number and in number of species, is found in wetlands, at the borders of different ecotopes, in places of grazing. From the neighborhood of man their number only increases.
3. The racehorse
Racehorse is one of the fastest among insects, the speed of movement of which can sometimes exceed 2 meters per second. It can be attributed to beneficial insects that destroy pests of gardens. One horse can destroy more than 400 harmful insects over the summer. They go hunting in sunny weather. The bug flies at high speed, only over short distances. Sensing danger, he instantly rises into the air and, having flown a short distance, falls down. These arthropods can hunt on the fly, but their main food is obtained on the ground, chasing insects or larvae. Relating to the fastest runners among his relatives, the hunter easily catches up with the quickest victim. Clinging to the prey with powerful jaws, the beetle abundantly watered it with gastric juice with digestive enzymes. Under the influence of the juice, the internal organs of the caught prey are partially digested, and after a while the mezhnyak can only suck out the nutritious gruel.
2. Cockroaches
Cockroaches - The fastest runners of all land insects. In 1991, a world record was set: a representative of Periplaneta americana developed a speed of 5.4 km / h or 50 cockroach body lengths per second. 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.
1. Dragonfly
Dragonfly It is considered the fastest insect in the world, which is capable of developing a flight speed of up to 97 km / h. Normal flight speed is 30 km / h. They are classified as predatory insects. When scientists began to study dragonflies in 1999, they learned that dragonflies do not “track” their prey by flying through the air, they “intercept” it. In other words, dragonflies provide precise killing of the victim by flying to where the victim will be after some time. This indicates that during the hunt, dragonflies count three things: the distance to their prey, the direction of its movement, and the speed with which it flies. Within milliseconds, the dragonfly calculates the angle from which she should approach, and as in the horror film, an unfortunate victim is already waiting in place, which flies into her claws without suspecting it.