These Strange Insects Will Blow Your Mind

Some of the weirdest creatures on the planet are insects. And the deeper into the insect world you go, the weirder they get. Here are five of the freakiest insects I've ever seen. All around us, a secret world is thriving. Odd creatures living complex lives that rarely cross paths with ours. I'm Spencer Hoffman, and it's my mission to uncover the secrets of the natural world around us. And these journeys sometimes yield really unusual finds. Our first takes me to my literal backyard in central North Carolina, and a very brightly colored but super freaky bug. Is that a stink bug? Oh, no way. Normally, stink bugs rely on their camouflage as they hide in your garden eating plants. But this brightly colored stink bug actually eats insects. The shape is very much a stink bug. It's got that shield-shaped body and that characteristic stink bug face. But as it was drinking water from the underside of leaves, I saw its proboscis, and these guys have a really scary-looking mouth. And watch how he uses it. When the predatory stink bug finds an insect he'd like to eat, he extends that razor-sharp, creepy-looking rostrum and pierces the outer shell of the unwitting insect. At this point, the prey item is doomed because these stink bugs are venomous. The stink bug injects a cocktail of toxins that paralyze and liquefy the insides of the unfortunate bug. Then, the stink bug slurps it up just like a milkshake. When the meal is a small kudzu bug just like this, it's over pretty quickly, and the predatory stink bug discards the empty husk of its meal. Welcome to the world of freaky insects. And as we delve deeper, they're gonna get weirder and weirder. Check this out. We only spotted it because of its classic defense pose. Look at that. You hear that? It's a huge... Yeah, I hear you. Oh, he's mad. That's a huge lubber grasshopper. All right, what I got right here is a leprous grasshopper. Now, these are one of the biggest lubbers we can find here in Ecuador. And if you've been a long fan of the channel, you know that grasshoppers have always held a very special place in my heart. Ever since I was a little kid, I loved catching these kinds of things in my little backyard in Illinois. To see a massive, beautifully colored creature just like this in the wild is insane. And I'll tell you one thing. This doesn't feel real. Like, she feels like plastic or something. And even that noise right there, that doesn't sound real, right? Oh, don't clip your wing there, bud. I mean, I'm looking at it and I'm like, surely, surely there's like clockwork or something going on in here. Surely there's like a wind-up toy is what it reminds me of. But this is a real animal. This is a life form living out here on this super disturbed ranch. And that's kind of how we find them, is they just kind of turn up in the gardens near the guest house where we're staying. And just look at this thing. That is honestly kind of a menacing looking grasshopper. I would wager that that coloration and that menacing appearance is actually intentional. A lot of lebergrasshoppers are kind of toxic to eat. Not that they would kill you or make you sick, but they would taste really, really bad. Now, I don't eat grasshoppers. So she's in no danger of being eaten and I'm in no danger of discovering how bad she tastes. But I want to take a minute to just appreciate how weird and crazy looking this insect actually is. Now, this insect, she actually has a weight to her. I can feel that on my hand. This is a very dense grasshopper. She has wings, but I guarantee you she has zero flight capability. So their likelihood of escaping is actually pretty low. And fortunately, as you can see right here, they're not aggressive or anything. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those mandibles, but I don't think she has any intention of biting me. These wings here, while they're not for flying, are actually one of her key defense mechanisms. As we've already seen, they can use that to create a really loud and annoying sound. If I pick her up, you can see she doesn't like that one bit. And she'll protest really loudly with those wings. And how that actually works is they're actually really rough to the touch. And the undersurface of these top wings and the top surface of these back wings, rubbed together, can create that really loud buzzing. If the coloration of the grasshopper doesn't startle you enough, if you're a predator thinking to make a quick meal, that sound will probably put you off. What they'll actually do is they'll hop around, fluttering those wings, making a lot of noise. And if you're a small mammalian predator, you're not going to want any part of that. Whether it's loud noises or unusual appearances, insects have evolved countless defense mechanisms to help them survive in the wild. After all, it's a bug-eat-bug world out there. One of the most cunning appearances of an insect I've seen belongs to the pine devil caterpillar. These larvae spend half their time invisible in the trees, and the other half looking like an eldritch nightmare. All right, now this is the pine devil caterpillar. And a caterpillar of this size, I had to guess he's probably going to become a pupa real soon. And these guys, you're thinking big caterpillar, big moth. These guys are actually going to become a moth in the family of the regal moths. Pine devils are one of the giant silk moths, one of my favorite groups of insects. These huge, magnificent moths look amazing as adults. But most of them have really odd-looking caterpillars, some of which can deliver a painful sting. You're probably wondering, do these guys sting? You know, you've seen a lot of different caterpillars in the wild that do sting, especially like saddlebacks and a lot of slug caterpillars. But do these guys sting? That is an important question, and they absolutely do not. Those horns on them are hard and rigid, but you can actually touch them with no problem. And I'm not having any... Oh, he is. He is leaning into it a little bit. He's like, ah, I'm all horned. Don't touch me. But it's completely a ruse. This is not going to hurt you if you pick it up or touch it. And they're super cool to look at. Some insects only look fearsome to scare off predators. Others actually are fearsome. And one of the freakiest groups find their way to lights after dark, like this prionid beetle. Those jaws can give a nasty pinch, so stay clear. When searching for unusual and nightmarish creatures like these, I like to set up a light trap. The bright, warm light draws a wide variety of nocturnal oddities and make them a lot easier to study. And that is exactly how I found this little bug. I heard it drop probably from a tree over there. Now, this looks kind of like the brown prionid, but this is even weirder. Now, this does not happen very often, but this is a species I have not seen before. Now, I know it's not a brown prionid beetle because the body is a different shape. The antennae are smaller and the jaws look different. It's definitely some kind of wood-boring beetle, but you can even see its head is spinier. And like, this is a much stockier built beetle. And it is harder and stronger than the prionid. I have to use all of my finger strength to prevent this beetle from getting back and biting me. But that is absolutely insane. Definitely not what I was expecting. And a great beetle here at the light trap. How about that? Oh my gosh, this thing is strong. Its thorax is even more spiny than that of the prionid beetle. This thing looks like it could be a boss from like Dark Souls or something. This is a creepy looking beetle and that is why I absolutely love it. How about that? And that's not even the weirdest of the insects that go bump in the night. The later into the night you wait, the stranger the insects that turn up. This is a gorgeous female Dobson fly. I'm gonna be very, very delicate here. Because these guys can bite. And you would not believe how hard they can bite. I've got basically just there. Oh, oh, oh, yep. He's trying to bite me. Look at that. That, that right there is a proper creature of the Black Lagoon. Oh, almost turned around and bite me there. Luckily I've got a nice firm but gentle grip on her thorax. I do not want to take a bite from this. The males have those big giant mandibles and they actually can't bite like stag beetles. They use those for sparring with other males for mates. And they're fighting over little ladies just like this. And trust me when I say it's the ladies that can give you a whomp. Look at the pinchers on this thing's face. Those, oh, those are some serious mandibles. And make this one of the most fearsome insects at every life stage. Now you're probably thinking, Spencer, surely if the adult is this ugly, maybe it's like a reverse butterfly and the babies are really cute. With the Dobson fly, the larvae are probably even creepier. And look at the jaws on this thing. This is a Helgermite and a proper one at that. I've seen little ones before, but this is a huge, huge Corydoras. This is going to grow up to become one of the fearsome Dobson flies. One of the strangest creatures you can possibly find, usually at your porch lights. And they freak a lot of people out every single year. And this might be a nightmarish like an animal, but it turns out they're actually really important. Out here in this swamp, finding one of these is a huge indicator that this area is full of life. Helgermite is one of the most sensitive types of insects you can find in an aquatic ecosystem. And they need an incredibly oxygen-rich environment to survive. And oh man, they're menacing. You see right there, he's trying to bite me. And Helgermites, they can bite. Even as adults, the females are known to have a really nasty bite. And this is an aquatic predator. These jaws are menacing for a reason. It's going to be attacking all kinds of little soft-bodied invertebrates in this little swamp ecosystem. Now, of course, it's really hard to rank all of the insects in the world because there are just so many alien looking creatures. So these are only my top five freakiest encounters. And I'd love to hear from you. What freaky insects have you encountered that haven't been covered here on the channel? Let me know down below. Now, one really freaky insect that I didn't include in this list is the water scorpion. It looks kind of like a mix of a praying mantis, a walking stick, and an assassin bug. And it also lives underwater. It's really weird. If you want to learn more about that insect, check out this video right here. Hope to see you there. But until next time, don't forget to get outside and find your own adventure. Transcribed by https://otter.ai