12 Of The Most Terrifying Bugs That Share Our Planet

    Warning: This post will probably give you that phantom feeling that creepy little things are crawling all over you.

    Flo Perry
    by Flo Perry

    BuzzFeed Staff, UK

    1. Giant Orb Weaving Spider

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    comicvine.com

    As you can see, the giant orb weaver likes to eat birds. Quite large birds. Found in Australia, they grow to around the size of a human hand, though in more tropical climates they can be bigger.

    Why they are terrifying: They're big, venomous, they eat birds, and they look like that. That's a lot of nope.

    2. Asian Giant Hornet

    KENPEI / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons

    All hornets are bad, but asian hornets may be the worst. With an average body length of 5 cm and a wing span of 7.5 cm, they are way too big. They're predatory and feed off other insects, often attacking honey bee hives to eat their young.

    Why they are terrifying: Because their sting could kill you and their venom is powerful enough to disintegrate human flesh. One unlucky sting victim told National Geographic said, "it's like a hot nail through my leg."

    3. Cicadas

    T. Nathan Mundhenk / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons
    Pmjacoby / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons

    Found all over North America, these creatures are well known for their crazy life cycles. They spend many years underground eating roots, before emerging all at once. The 17-year cicada for example, emerges in it's thousands, you guessed it, every 17 years.

    Why they are terrifying: Because swarms. No one likes a swarm, unless it was a swarm of kittens, but no, this is a swarm of bugs. They are harmless, but if they were in their swarming frenzy and mistook you for a tree they could grip on to you with their spiky legs and try and lay eggs in you. They probably wouldn't, but if you look like a tree, watch out.

    4. Bot flies.

    Karsten Heinrich / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons

    These guys look like normal flies crossed with bumble bees, and are kinda cute. There are many different types including, the deer bot fly (pictured), the horse bot fly, and the human bot fly... uh oh.

    Why they are terrifying: They lay their eggs in flesh. Living flesh. A lot like the flesh you're covered in right now. And then the maggoty larva hatches and burrows out of your flesh. We have decided not to picture this because it is too scary, search only if you want nightmares forever. They are actually pretty harmless if you don't mind watching a maggot wiggle out of your skin.

    5. Camel Spider

    Braboowi / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons

    Found all over North Africa and the Middle East, these spiders grow up to 6 inches long. Although commonly known as a spider, they are not techinically a spider, but I doubt that's top of people's priority list when faced with one of these.

    Why they are terrifying: Their jaws can be as big as a third of their body length, and although not deadly to humans, they pack a painful bite. They rose to fame when American soldiers in Afghanistan kept finding them seeking shade in their boots. What a nice surprise!

    6. The Curved Spiny Spider

    Raiyan / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons
    projectnoah.org

    Living amongst the trees in South East Asia, these little spiders build distinctive orb like webs. Their bodies are only 10mm long, but their weird-ass horns are much longer.

    Why they are terrifying: Because of the massive horns. They also have a few tiny spikes around the edge of their bodies, that look nasty. Even though they are harmless to humans, you still wouldn't want to step on one, just imagine the crunch.

    7. Goliath Spider

    Ryan Somma / Flickr: ideonexus / Creative Commons

    The biggest of all the spiders. They hunt by laying a "silk welcome mat" at the entrance to their burrows. They can sense when a careless mouse runs over it and then BAM, bye bye mouse.


    Why they are terrifying:     Because they are a foot across. That's bigger than your face. They also have fangs an inch long *shudder*. Despite this their bite apparently feels similar to a bee sting, and no reported human deaths by goliath spiders have ever been reported.

    8. Amazonian Giant Centipede

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    channel.nationalgeographic.com / Flo Perry / BuzzFeed

    These centipedes can grown up to a foot long, and are found all over the tropical regions of Central and South America.

    Why they are terrifying: They deliver potent venom through their front pincers, which although it can't kill humans, is pretty damn painful. They can eat pretty much any smallish animal, including birds, rodents, bats, lizards and spiders. This is all very scary, but not quite as terrifying as imagining the feeling of all those legs creepy crawling up your trouser leg.

    9. Army Ants

    Alex Wild / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons

    Ants are so numerous that the total weight of the world's ants rivals that of humanity. Army ants are polymorphic, meaning that different ants in the colony have different appearances, and vary in length between 3 - 12 mm (see picture).

    Why they are terrifying: They can eat snakes and other creatures that are much, much bigger than them, just by overwhelming them and then tearing them apart with their pincers and dissolving them in acid. The best defense if you ever run into a colony is to stay completely still, as they detect their prey by movement.

    10. Saddleback Caterpillar

    Gerald J. Lenhard / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons

    These guys are so cute. They look like they have a little jumper on. They are found all over the southern parts of the united states.

    Why they are terrifying: Because you want them to be your friend, but they really do not want to be your friend. They are covered in venemous hairs and spines and will arch their back if you touch them to get as many spines into you as possible. Not so cute now.

    11. Atlas Beetle

    Notafly / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons

    Also known as the rhinoceros beetle, this guy is one of the biggest beetles at around 6 inches long, and has horns that make up a third of its body length.


    Why they are terrifying:     They use their trio of spiky things to flip each other over when fighting for mates. Its legs are covered in nasty spines and it generally just doesn't look very friendly.

    12. Africanised Honey Bee

    NielsF / en.wikipedia.org / Creative Commons

    They look like a normal sweet little honey bee you would find in your back garden but they are NOT. If you so much as casually walk past their hive they will chase you, swarming all around you, for half a mile. If you jump into water, they will wait for you to come up for air. If you swat at them, more will follow the scent of crushed bee. The only way to escape this terror is just to outrun them.

    Why they are terrifying: The scariest thing about these bees is that we invented them. We can't blame mother nature for this one. Some horrible scientist wanted to create a honey bee that could survive in the jungle, so he crossed a honey bee, with an African bee, and created the devil in bee form, which can survive in the jungle. They are also spreading. They now cover all of South America, and are making their way up the United States. Thanks, humanity.