---
title: "Insects (Insecta) | Evolutionary Clade | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "Six-legged masters of flight, metamorphosis, compound eyes, and social supercolonies. Explore 46 species in the Insects evolutionary lineage."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png"
---

# Insects (*Insecta*)

> Six-legged masters of flight, metamorphosis, compound eyes, and social supercolonies.

Insects outnumber all other terrestrial organisms combined. Equipped with three-part segmented bodies, compound eyes made of thousands of ommatidia, and lightweight chitin exoskeletons, they were the first organisms to conquer powered flight over 300 million years ago.

## Key Evolutionary Adaptations

- Bombardier beetles mix hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide in an internal chamber to shoot boiling 100-degree chemical sprays.
- Bullet ant stings rank highest on the Schmidt sting pain index, firing paralyzing poneratoxin peptides into target nerves.
- Diabolical ironclad beetles withstand compression forces 39,000 times their body weight thanks to interlocking jigsaw sutures.

## Member Species (46 Creatures)

- [American Cockroach](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/american-cockroach/) (*Periplaneta americana*)
  - **Superpower**: Switches from six-legged to four-legged and two-legged running at up to 50 body lengths per second
  - **Musical Match**: Hella (Math Rock & Instrumental Virtuoso)
- [Antlion](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/antlion/) (*Myrmeleon formicarius*)
  - **Superpower**: Its larva throws sand out of its pit with a backward jerk of the head
  - **Musical Match**: Russian Circles (Sludge Metal & Abyssal Doom)
- [Army Ant](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/army-ant/) (*Eciton burchellii*)
  - **Superpower**: Builds its nest out of the bodies of its own workers
  - **Musical Match**: MONO (Post-Rock & Cinematic Orchestral)
- [Asian Giant Hornet](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/asian-giant-hornet/) (*Vespa mandarinia*)
  - **Superpower**: Raiding parties that can kill 5,000 to 25,000 honeybees in a few hours
  - **Musical Match**: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (Psychedelic Rock & Neo-Psych)
- [Asian Tiger Mosquito](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/asian-tiger-mosquito/) (*Aedes albopictus*)
  - **Superpower**: Drought-resistant eggs that, in European populations, pause through winter and survived a -10 °C cold spell
  - **Musical Match**: Laurie Spiegel (Krautrock & Electronic Pioneers)
- [Asian Weaver Ant](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/asian-weaver-ant/) (*Oecophylla smaragdina*)
  - **Superpower**: Pulling teams in which each ant's average force nearly doubles as the team grows, while other workers glue the leaves with silk squeezed from their own larvae.
  - **Musical Match**: Chon (Math Rock & Instrumental Virtuoso)
- [Assassin Bug](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/assassin-bug/) (*Acanthaspis petax*)
  - **Superpower**: Wears a mask of ant carcasses that seems to fool sharp-eyed jumping spiders, and belongs to a family whose venom can paralyze and liquefy
  - **Musical Match**: Skream (Heavy UK Grime & Sub-Bass)
- [Bed Bug](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bed-bug/) (*Cimex lectularius*)
  - **Superpower**: Survives for months without a blood meal, and injects an anesthetic and an anticoagulant when it bites
  - **Musical Match**: Julee Cruise (Dream Pop & Shoegaze)
- [Bombardier Beetle](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bombardier-beetle/) (*Brachinus crepitans*)
  - **Superpower**: Explosive Chemical Spray Up To 100°C, Fired in Rapid Pulses
  - **Musical Match**: Fugazi (Hardcore Punk & Post-Hardcore)
- [Brazilian Treehopper](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/brazilian-treehopper/) (*Bocydium globulare*)
  - **Superpower**: A globe-tipped pronotal crown that grows folded under the skin of the final nymph and unpacks itself in about half an hour at the last molt, for a function entomologists still call unknown.
  - **Musical Match**: Bonobo (Organic Downtempo & Micro-Sampling)
- [Brown Marmorated Stink Bug](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/brown-marmorated-stink-bug/) (*Halyomorpha halys*)
  - **Superpower**: A male-produced aggregation pheromone that attracted females, males and nymphs in field trials
  - **Musical Match**: Florence + The Machine (2010s Pop & Electropop)
- [Buff-Tailed Bumblebee](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/buff-tailed-bumblebee/) (*Bombus terrestris*)
  - **Superpower**: Nectar robbing: it bites a hole at the base of a flower too deep for its short tongue and sucks out the nectar
  - **Musical Match**: Ramones (Classic Punk & 70s Garage)
- [Bullet Ant](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bullet-ant/) (*Paraponera clavata*)
  - **Superpower**: Poneratoxin venom that in cockroaches keeps nerve cells firing past the point where they should stop, and a sting rated level four, the top of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index.
  - **Musical Match**: Converge (Mathcore & Chaotic Noise)
- [Common Earwig](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/common-earwig/) (*Forficula auricularia*)
  - **Superpower**: A mother that grooms and guards her eggs like a hen, and hind wings that must be unfolded by the tail forceps
  - **Musical Match**: Mary Lattimore (Glacial Ambient & Drone Soundscapes)
- [Common Eastern Firefly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/common-eastern-firefly/) (*Photinus pyralis*)
  - **Superpower**: Males flash a timed courtship code and bleed defensive steroids
  - **Musical Match**: King Tubby (Roots Reggae & Heavy Dub)
- [Common Wasp](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/common-wasp/) (*Vespula vulgaris*)
  - **Superpower**: Workers rapidly remove worker-laid eggs: 4 of 120 were left after an hour, against 106 of 120 queen eggs
  - **Musical Match**: Elastica (Britpop & 90s Madchester)
- [Death's-Head Hawkmoth](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/deaths-head-hawkmoth/) (*Acherontia atropos*)
  - **Superpower**: Squeaks when alarmed, and can get into sealed honeycombs; its short proboscis ends in a sharp point
  - **Musical Match**: Venetian Snares (Breakcore & Chaotic Drill)
- [Desert Locust](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/desert-locust/) (*Schistocerca gregaria*)
  - **Superpower**: Switches from loner to swarm member when crowded
  - **Musical Match**: Queen (Classic Hard Rock & Southern Blues)
- [Emerald Cockroach Wasp](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/emerald-cockroach-wasp/) (*Ampulex compressa*)
  - **Superpower**: A sting aimed at the cockroach's brain that switches off its urge to walk
  - **Musical Match**: Static-X (Industrial Metal & Cyber-Thrash)
- [Emperor Dragonfly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/emperor-dragonfly/) (*Anax imperator*)
  - **Superpower**: A larva with a labial mask, a hooked mouthpart that shoots out at prey
  - **Musical Match**: Venetian Snares (Breakcore & Chaotic Drill)
- [European Crane Fly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/european-crane-fly/) (*Tipula paludosa*)
  - **Superpower**: Leatherjacket grubs with tough skin that come up to feed on damp, warm nights
  - **Musical Match**: Lana Del Rey (2010s Pop & Electropop)
- [European Hornet](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/european-hornet/) (*Vespa crabro*)
  - **Superpower**: Makes its own body heat, arriving home with a thorax averaging 30 to 40 °C
  - **Musical Match**: Chromatics (80s Retrowave & Synthwave)
- [European Mantis](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/european-mantis/) (*Mantis religiosa*)
  - **Superpower**: A single ear on its underside, tuned to ultrasound
  - **Musical Match**: Ryoji Ikeda (IDM & Glitch Ambient Synthesis)
- [Fruit Fly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/fruit-fly/) (*Drosophila melanogaster*)
  - **Superpower**: Has counterparts to an estimated 65% of human disease genes
  - **Musical Match**: Daft Punk (Big Beat & 90s Acid Techno)
- [Giant Prickly Stick Insect](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giant-prickly-stick-insect/) (*Extatosoma tiaratum*)
  - **Superpower**: Hatches looking and behaving like an ant
  - **Musical Match**: Beach House (Dream Pop & Shoegaze)
- [Giant Water Bug](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giant-water-bug/) (*Lethocerus americanus*)
  - **Superpower**: A young bug reduced a tadpole bigger than itself to shriveled skin in an hour
  - **Musical Match**: Electric Light Orchestra (70s Pop & Glam Disco)
- [Green Drake Mayfly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/green-drake-mayfly/) (*Ephemera danica*)
  - **Superpower**: Detects water by the horizontal polarization of the light it reflects
  - **Musical Match**: Sigur Rós (Post-Rock & Cinematic Orchestral)
- [Hercules Beetle](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/hercules-beetle/) (*Dynastes hercules*)
  - **Superpower**: Horns that clamp a rival like pliers, then lift and slam him down, mandibles geared to move in complete synchrony, and elytra that turn from khaki-green to black once humidity rises above 80 percent.
  - **Musical Match**: Sleep (Sludge Metal & Abyssal Doom)
- [Housefly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/housefly/) (*Musca domestica*)
  - **Superpower**: Tastes food with its feet and coats hard food in saliva and stomach fluid to break it down
  - **Musical Match**: The Breeders (90s Grunge & Heavy Alt-Rock)
- [Human Botfly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/human-botfly/) (*Dermatobia hominis*)
  - **Superpower**: Glues its eggs to a blood-feeding carrier, usually a mosquito or a tick, which carries them to a warm-blooded host
  - **Musical Match**: Green Day (Pop-Punk & 2000s Alt-Rock)
- [Hummingbird Hawk-Moth](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/hummingbird-hawk-moth/) (*Macroglossum stellatarum*)
  - **Superpower**: Hovers in front of flowers, and the sensors in its antennae help it control rapid turns
  - **Musical Match**: Covet (Math Rock & Instrumental Virtuoso)
- [Luna Moth](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/luna-moth/) (*Actias luna*)
  - **Superpower**: Spinning hindwing tails that gave tailed moths a survival advantage of about 47% over tailless ones against big brown bats
  - **Musical Match**: Augustus Pablo (Roots Reggae & Heavy Dub)
- [Monarch Butterfly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/monarch-butterfly/) (*Danaus plexippus*)
  - **Superpower**: Eastern monarchs migrate up to 3,000 miles using a sun compass
  - **Musical Match**: Pink Floyd (Psychedelic Rock & Neo-Psych)
- [Mound-Building Termite](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/mound-building-termite/) (*Macrotermes bellicosus*)
  - **Superpower**: Queens and kings that can live as long as 20 years in the lab, in a colony that grows its own fungus
  - **Musical Match**: Terry Riley (Krautrock & Electronic Pioneers)
- [Orchid Mantis](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/orchid-mantis/) (*Hymenopus coronatus*)
  - **Superpower**: Color that bees cannot tell apart from real flowers, drawing in wild pollinators at an even higher rate than flowers do.
  - **Musical Match**: Cocteau Twins (Dream Pop & Shoegaze)
- [Periodical Cicada](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/periodical-cicada/) (*Magicicada septendecim*)
  - **Superpower**: Emerges from underground with its whole brood, once every 17 years
  - **Musical Match**: Glenn Branca (Industrial Noise & Avant-Garde Experimental)
- [Red Imported Fire Ant](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/red-imported-fire-ant/) (*Solenopsis invicta*)
  - **Superpower**: Links bodies with its nestmates to form a waterproof raft
  - **Musical Match**: LCD Soundsystem (Dance-Punk & Electroclash)
- [Sacred Scarab](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/sacred-scarab/) (*Scarabaeus sacer*)
  - **Superpower**: Rolled dung balls of 16 to 86 cc in a Turkish study, and holds flight heat in its thorax
  - **Musical Match**: Kavinsky (80s Retrowave & Synthwave)
- [Seven-Spot Ladybird](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/seven-spot-ladybird/) (*Coccinella septempunctata*)
  - **Superpower**: Bleeds toxic alkaloids from its leg joints
  - **Musical Match**: The White Stripes (Garage Blues & Swamp Rock)
- [Silkworm](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/silkworm/) (*Bombyx mori*)
  - **Superpower**: Spins a single silk thread up to 1,800 metres long
  - **Musical Match**: My Bloody Valentine (Dream Pop & Shoegaze)
- [Silverfish](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/silverfish/) (*Lepisma saccharinum*)
  - **Superpower**: Keeps molting as an adult and can go up to a year without food
  - **Musical Match**: Laurie Anderson (Art Pop & Baroque Pop)
- [Spotted Lanternfly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/spotted-lanternfly/) (*Lycorma delicatula*)
  - **Superpower**: Stores a defensive chemical from tree of heaven, and birds in a study avoided lanternflies collected from it
  - **Musical Match**: Kylie Minogue (2000s Pop & R&B Anthem)
- [Stag Beetle](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/stag-beetle/) (*Lucanus cervus*)
  - **Superpower**: Antler-like mandibles used to pry rival males loose and even throw them.
  - **Musical Match**: Architects (Modern Metalcore & Djent)
- [Tsetse Fly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tsetse-fly/) (*Glossina morsitans*)
  - **Superpower**: Feeds its young on "milk" from glands inside the mother
  - **Musical Match**: Mala (Heavy UK Grime & Sub-Bass)
- [Western Honeybee](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/honeybee/) (*Apis mellifera*)
  - **Superpower**: Waggle-dance directions read from the sun and gravity, a barbed sting that costs its owner her life, and a nest built from hexagonal wax cells.
  - **Musical Match**: Wizkid (Afrobeats & Modern Amapiano)
- [Yellow Fever Mosquito](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/yellow-fever-mosquito/) (*Aedes aegypti*)
  - **Superpower**: Detects the left-handed or right-handed form of a chemical in mammal odour
  - **Musical Match**: Johann Sebastian Bach (Neo-Classical & Baroque Chamber)

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```