Extreme survivor bugs
Every species in the Wild Files corpus where extreme survivor is a defining trait.
130 on file
Eciton Army Ant
Builds bridges out of itself. Raids 200,000 strong. Comes with its own bird entourage.
Asian Giant Hornet
Slaughters whole bee colonies in hours. Wears a sting that breaks down flesh.
Common Bed Bug
Survives a year without feeding. Has been with humans for 3,500 years. Wants nothing to do with you — except your blood.
Bombardier Beetle
Sprays boiling caustic chemicals from a rotating turret. 500 pulses per second.
Human Botfly
Doesn't bite you. Hires the mosquito to deliver its eggs. Hatches under your skin.
Brazilian Wandering Spider
World's most venomous spider. Doesn't build webs — wanders. Found in shoes, banana shipments.
Buff-Tailed Bumblebee
Flies in cold honey bees can't. Vibrates flowers at 400 Hz to shake out pollen. Pollinates your tomatoes.
Desert Locust
Solitary green bug, until crowded. Then it turns yellow, swarms, and darkens the sky.
Diving Bell Spider
Only spider that lives entirely underwater. Builds its own scuba tank out of silk.
African Driver Ant
22 million workers per colony. Raid in columns kilometers long. Clean a house in hours.
Red Imported Fire Ant
Builds living rafts during floods. Floats for weeks. Costs the US $6 billion a year.
Giant Huntsman Spider
Largest spider in the world by leg span — 30 cm. Runs sideways. Doesn't bother you.
Honeypot Ant
Living food jars. Worker ants hang from the ceiling, swollen with nectar. Eaten as candy.
Fire-Chaser Jewel Beetle
Detects forest fires from 80 km away. Flies INTO them. Lays eggs in still-smoking wood.
Leafcutter Ant
Run the world’s oldest farms. Domesticated a fungus 50 million years ago. Excellent at chemistry.
Luna Moth
Pale green ghost of the moonlit forest. Tails that jam bat sonar. No mouth.
Yellow Fever Mosquito
Deadliest animal in human history. Has killed more people than every war combined.
Periodical Cicada (17-Year)
Spends 17 years underground. Emerges by the trillion. Picks 17 because it's prime.
Spotted Lanternfly
The bug your state told you to step on. Invasive, destructive, gorgeous, tasty.
Sydney Funnel-Web Spider
Sydney's only deadly spider. Venom kills humans but barely affects dogs. Antivenom has stopped every death since 1981.
Common Yellowjacket
Stings you. Stings you again. Stings you a third time. Doesn't die.
American Burying Beetle
Both parents stay home. Bury a mouse together. Feed the kids by mouth.
Compass Termite
Builds termite mounds aligned to true magnetic north. Uses Earth's magnetic field.
Common Mayfly
Adult life: 24 hours. Sometimes 5 minutes. The order's name means 'short-lived wing.'
American Cockroach
Runs 530 km/h scaled to human size. Survives a week without its head. NASA studies it.
Argentine Ant
One global super-colony. Ants from Italy and Portugal recognize each other as family.
Asian Honey Bee
The bee that cooks giant hornets alive. Tolerates varroa. Speaks waggle-dance with a Japanese accent.
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing
Largest butterfly on Earth — 28 cm. The first specimen was shot down with a shotgun.
Black-Legged (Deer) Tick
Cements herself to your skin for 3 days. Carries Lyme disease. Range expanding north 50 km a decade.
German Cockroach
World's most damaging cockroach. Now resistant to every major pesticide class simultaneously.
Lord Howe Island Stick Insect
Declared extinct in 1920. Found on a sea-cliff in 2001. Now back from the brink.
Varroa Mite
1.6 mm parasite. Single greatest threat to global honey bees. Costs beekeepers $2B a year.
Carpenter Ant
Doesn't eat wood — excavates it. Galleries through your beams. Largest ant in eastern North America.
European Hornet
Europe's largest social wasp. Hunts at night by lamplight. Less aggressive than her tiny cousins.
Golden Silk Orb-Weaver
Spins golden silk strong as kevlar. The 2009 spider-silk cape took 1.2 million spiders.
Kissing Bug
Bites your face at night. Defecates on the wound. Carries Chagas disease — kills 12,000 a year.
Mountain Pine Beetle
Killed 18 million hectares of pine forest since 2000. The largest insect-driven forest disaster in history.
European Paper Wasp
Invented paper before humans. Recognizes nestmates by face. Tense dominance hierarchies under your eaves.
Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle
Lifts 850× her own weight. The kabutomushi of Japan — kept as a pet, wrestled in arenas, the heart of childhood.
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
Invasive Asian shield-bug. Devastates apples, peaches, soybeans. Stinks like burnt cilantro on contact.
Titan Beetle
Largest beetle in the world. 17 cm long. Snaps a pencil with her jaws. Larva has never been seen.
Water Strider
Walks on water. Each leg has millions of waterproof hairs. The marine cousin lives on the open ocean.
Riffle Beetle
Tiny aquatic beetle that NEVER SURFACES. Breathes underwater through PLASTRON air-layer 'physical gill'.
West Indian Drywood Termite
Most damaging drywood termite worldwide. Reason for the dramatic WHOLE-HOUSE FUMIGATION TENT.
Salt Marsh Caterpillar
Color-variable wooly bear. Mass autumn migrations across roads and gardens in southeastern US.
Giant Isopod
Largest known isopod on Earth. 50 cm. Looks like a giant pillbug. FASTS for FIVE YEARS at a time.
Dragonhunter
Largest clubtail in NA. Hunts and eats other DRAGONFLIES. Apex predator of NA freshwater systems.
Falcate Orangetip
Tiny white butterfly with HOOKED forewing tips. Males have bright ORANGE wing-tip patches.
Great Spangled Fritillary
Large NA fritillary with brilliant METALLIC SILVER underside spots. Larvae OVERWINTER WITHOUT EATING.
Pill Millipede
Rolls into an armored ball — same trick as pillbugs, but completely independently evolved.
Yellow Sac Spider
Most common indoor spider in NA. Cause of most 'spider bite' reports. CHEWS through fuel-system plastic.
Face Fly
Cattle face-feeder. Vector of cattle pinkeye. Overwinters in rural attics by the thousands.
Flame Skimmer
Brilliant flame-red dragonfly of western North America. Major desert mosquito predator.
Zebra Swallowtail
Tennessee state butterfly. Longest tails of any North American swallowtail. Eats only pawpaw.
Mediterranean Recluse
Most invasive recluse spider on Earth. Sphingomyelinase D venom causes necrotic skin lesions.
Madagascan Comet Moth
Longest moth wing tails on Earth — 15 cm. Bat sonar deflector. Lives 4-5 days. Endemic to Madagascar.
Seven-Spot Ladybird
The original 'ladybird.' Named for Mary's Seven Sorrows. Eats 5,000 aphids per lifetime.
Banded Demoiselle
Damselfly with iridescent dark blue wing band. Water-quality indicator. Elaborate courtship dance.
Brimstone Butterfly
Sulfur-yellow male probably gave English the word 'butterfly.' Lives up to 12 months. Leaf-shaped wings.
German Yellowjacket
Most cosmopolitan invasive yellowjacket. NZ has 10x more biomass than native pollinators. 5,000-worker colonies.
Small Tortoiseshell
Bright orange-and-black with blue marginal spots. First butterfly of European spring. UK population in steep decline.
Chigoe Flea (Jigger)
Female burrows INTO your foot. Stays embedded 4-6 weeks. Affects 20M+ people worldwide.
Clouded Yellow
Bright orange-yellow migrant. Multi-generational annual migration. 'Clouded yellow years' bring billions north.
Garden Tiger Moth
Chocolate-brown wings with cream stripes. Orange hindwings flash. Toxic and warning-colored.
Peacock Butterfly
Four enormous peacock-eye spots. HISSES when threatened by rubbing wing veins together.
Silver-Washed Fritillary
Largest European fritillary. Lays eggs on tree bark, not the host plant. Caterpillar overwinters without feeding.
Asian Tiger Mosquito
Globally invasive via the used-tire trade. Vectors dengue, Zika, chikungunya into temperate climates.
American Burying Beetle
Buries dead mice. Both parents care for the brood. Endangered species recovery success.
European Mantis
The original 'praying mantis' — Linnaeus named her for the prayer-like raptorial pose in 1758.
Wellington Tree Wētā
Male defends a harem of 1-10 females in a tree gallery. Wrestles rivals with enlarged jaws.
Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula
Most popular pet tarantula in the world. Gentle. Goes months without food. Venom yields cardiac drug candidate.
Snake Fly
Insect with a 'snake' neck. Tiny ancient order — 270 million years old. Only in the Northern Hemisphere.
Cigarette Beetle
Eats tobacco, spices, dried herbs, museum specimens. Yeast endosymbiont detoxifies the nicotine.
Western Corn Rootworm
The 'billion-dollar bug.' Resistant to every insecticide AND to Bt corn traits. Invading Europe.
Body Louse
Vector of typhus that killed 30M+. Dated origin of human clothing. Lives only in the seams of your clothes.
Chinese Mantis
Largest mantis in North America. Eats hummingbirds at feeders. Sold as 'beneficial' garden biocontrol.
Crab Louse (Pubic Louse)
Crab-shaped louse. Host-jumped from gorillas to early hominins 3-4 million years ago.
Africanized Honey Bee (Killer Bee)
The 'killer bee.' Hybrid escaped Brazil in 1957. 1,000+ human deaths. Pursues victims hundreds of meters.
Asian Needle Ant
Painful sting comparable to a wasp. Anaphylaxis documented. Displacing native ants in eastern US.
Boll Weevil
Devastated US cotton — $22 billion in damage. Has a statue in Alabama. ERADICATED from the US in 2010.
European Fire Ant
Invasive in Metro Vancouver since 2010s. Sharp burning sting. Excludes native ants from infested soil.
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
USDA introduced her as biocontrol — she displaced native ladybeetles, invades homes by the thousands, bites.
Odorous House Ant
Smells like rotten coconut when crushed. Most common indoor ant in North America. Budding colony defeats spray.
Oriental Rat Flea
Vector of bubonic plague. Killed 200+ MILLION humans across history. Most consequential insect ever.
Two-Spotted Spider Mite
0.5 mm. Damages 1,100+ plant species. Genome reveals extreme detox-gene arsenal — resistant to almost every miticide.
Fall Webworm
Drapes branch tips in silken webs in late summer. Native invasive across Europe and Asia since 1940s.
Giant Leopard Moth
White wings with leopard-spot rings. Iridescent blue-orange abdomen hidden under the wings. Plays dead.
Greater Wax Moth
Caterpillar DIGESTS plastic — first discovered in 2017. 40,000× faster than environmental degradation.
Diabolical Ironclad Beetle
Survives being run over by a car. 39,000× body weight. Aerospace engineers copy her shell.
Boxelder Bug
Forms autumn aggregations of thousands on south-facing walls. Same red-and-black mimicry as milkweed bug.
Darwin's Bark Spider
Strongest natural material on Earth. Silk 10× tougher than kevlar. Webs span 25 meters across rivers.
Firebrat
Silverfish's heat-loving cousin. Lives behind ovens at 40°C. 400 million years old.
Spongy Moth (formerly Gypsy Moth)
Renamed from 'gypsy moth' in 2022. Released in Massachusetts in 1869. Has defoliated tens of millions of acres.
Cat Flea
Most common flea worldwide. Jumps 100× her body length at 100g. Dominant flea on cats, dogs, humans.
Webbing Clothes Moth
Larvae digest keratin — the protein in wool, fur, silk. Adults don't eat. $1B+ in textile damage per year.
Colorado Potato Beetle
Most pesticide-resistant insect on Earth. Resistant to 56+ different insecticides. Devastates potato crops globally.
Emerald Ash Borer
Killed 100 million ash trees since 2002. Most economically destructive forest insect ever introduced to North America.
Khapra Beetle
Most-feared stored grain pest. Larvae survive YEARS without food. One specimen triggers container fumigation.
Red Flour Beetle
Most cosmopolitan stored-grain pest. Second insect ever to have her genome sequenced. Key model organism.
Yellow Fever Mosquito
Vector of yellow fever, dengue, Zika, chikungunya. Day biter. Breeds in a bottle cap of water.
Black Fly (Buffalo Gnat)
Bites livestock and humans in clouds. African subgroup vectors river blindness. Public-health success story.
Wandering Violin Mantis
Body shaped like a stick, leg lobes shaped like leaves. Endemic to South Asian dry forest.
Fat-Tailed Scorpion
Latin name means 'man-killer.' Hundreds of deaths per year across North Africa and the Middle East.
Head Louse
Lives ONLY on human heads. Her cousin the body louse dated the invention of clothing.
Asian Longhorned Beetle
Asian invader. Has killed 130,000+ US trees since 1996. Glossy black with white spots and impossibly long antennae.
Scarlet Malachite Beetle
Britain's most beautiful beetle. Emerald-green with scarlet wing tips. Critically declining.
Sea Spider
Marine arthropod with internal organs IN the legs. Antarctic giants reach 70 cm leg span.
Snow Flea
Tiny springtail active on snow. Antifreeze protein keeps her alive at -20°C. Used in medical cryopreservation.
Apollo Butterfly
Translucent white alpine butterfly with red eye-spots. CITES protected. Climate-pressured upslope.
Cabbage White
Most agriculturally damaging butterfly on Earth. $200M+ in US damage per year. Loves cabbage.
Drone Fly
Bee-mimic hoverfly. Larva is the 'rat-tailed maggot' that breathes through a 5x body-length snorkel.
Globe Skimmer Dragonfly
Longest insect migration on Earth — 18,000 km. Crosses the Indian Ocean. Truly global panmictic species.
House Fly
Vomits on your food to dissolve it. Carries 100+ pathogens. Sees movement 10x faster than you do.
Mourning Cloak
Lives 10-12 months. Flies across snow in winter. Drinks tree sap, not nectar. Solar-warmed wings.
Painted Lady Butterfly
Most cosmopolitan butterfly. Multi-generational 14,000 km migration across continents. Billion-strong year.
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing
Largest butterfly on Earth. 28 cm wingspan. Discovered by a collector who shot her with a shotgun.
Red Admiral
Long-distance migrant. Territorial males dive-bomb anything that moves through their patch.
Meadow Spittlebug
Lives in a froth-bubble of her own waste. Adults jump at 400g — highest acceleration of any animal. Olive disease vector.
Gooty Sapphire Tarantula
Brilliant cobalt-blue iridescent. Endemic to one 100 km² Indian forest. Critically Endangered.
Brown Widow
Black widow's invasive displacing sister. Spikier egg sac. Bite is milder despite stronger venom drop-for-drop.
Cecropia Moth
Largest moth native to North America. 18 cm wingspan. Caterpillar is bright green with painted tubercles.
Woolly Bear (Isabella Tiger Moth)
The folklore weather caterpillar. Survives -90°C using natural antifreeze. Arctic cousin needs 7 years to grow up.
Tawny Crazy Ant
Neutralizes fire ant venom. Displaces fire ants. Shorts out electrical gear by sheer mass.
House Dust Mite
0.3 mm. 10 million in your mattress. Eats your dead skin. Major asthma trigger worldwide.
Six-Spotted Fishing Spider
Walks on water. Catches fish. Dives underwater with an air-bubble respirator.
Formosan Subterranean Termite
Super-termite. 10 million workers per colony. Carton nests the size of an oven.
Pharaoh Ant
2 mm. Invades hospitals. Spray her and she SPLITS the colony. Queens by the dozen.
Silverfish
400 million years old. Predates wings. Lives 8 years. Mates by floor-deposited sperm packet.
Springtail
100,000 per square meter of soil. Catapults itself with a spring-loaded tail. Survives -60°C.
Wētāpunga (Giant Wētā)
Heavier than a sparrow. Endemic to one NZ island. The mammal-substitute insect of an island without mammals.