One species - Acherontia atropos - does indeed live in England in warm years (usually in the South) and always has done belly button.

I actually think it is incredibly cute when it squeaks - but then again so did Buffalo Bill.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/57940...-head-hawkmoth

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...s_MHNT_dos.jpg

Gliding Selenops spiders will eat your soul.

http://www.livescience.com/51905-gli...t-spiders.html

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...ees-180956320/

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-biologi...-american.html

Just a quick post on the St Helena Giant Earwig - now sadly extinct.

http://www.earwigs-online.de/Lhercul...erculeana.html

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/11073/0

http://sthelenaonline.org/2014/09/12...here-too-soon/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Helena_earwig

For all you arachnophobes the sheer joy of Camel spiders (Solifugids).

http://www.livescience.com/40025-cam...ers-facts.html

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150...-camel-spiders

http://mentalfloss.com/article/66467...-camel-spiders

http://www.wired.com/2015/10/absurd-...apped-mystery/

Brilliant news for one our largest, rarest and most beautiful spider species.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/eart...n-numbers.html

A tale to really warm the hearts of any arachnophobe.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...s-50000-strong

A wonderful little video of the world's largest jumping spider - Hyllus gigantus.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...-dramatic-leap

Fourteen new species of Tarantula have been discovered in the US - including one that shot a man in Reno just to watch him die!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...cience-nation/

http://www.livescience.com/53616-tar...hnny-cash.html

Do you like endangered giant insects?

Meet the tree-lobster.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...from-the-brink

that looks a bit like the small red, comical beetly things we have here, can`t remember what they`re called - soldier beetle rings a bell - but they`re hilarious, i can spend hours photographing them.

edit: soldier beetle. it`s its little face.

The Lord Howe Island stick insect does have a rather famous fan!

http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam...5174248910.jpg

http://resources0.news.com.au/images...tenborough.jpg

A stick insect that makes the tree-lobster look slightly puny.

The massive Malaysian 'Jungle Nymph' (Heteropteryx dilatata).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S5wN0ttTnU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsX8aDiy_oo

http://www.jaysanimalencounters.co.u...g.w180h124.jpg

https://featuredcreature.com/wp-cont...1.40.27-AM.png

https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6007/5...e734b6ce_b.jpg

Ugh *shivers* of all the terrifying bugs on this thread, this post just made me freeze in terror.. I hate Moths! It's the way they flap... UUUUGGGGGHHHHH.

I think it's PTSD, years ago, I was using a punching bag in my friends garage and one dropped down and landed on my face, I swear it covered my whole head!

This is not really the right thread for you then Ben!

Recent news stories on breeding Australia's 'gargantuan' stick insect (Ctenomorpha gargantua).

Lovely stuff.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-0...insect/7074140

http://www.sciencefriday.com/article...-stick-insect/

http://theconversation.com/raising-l...ng-young-53974

Yes brilliant. They can stay in China though thanks.

Not all ants are tiny - Camponotus gigas for example.

The workers.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JpAxhGGtSM..._gigas%2B1.jpg

The queen.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/serv...omGateway=true

A very interesting article from the BBC which will be a delight to anyone who is suffering from arachnophobia.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...a-dinner-plate

The longest insect in the world has just been discovered in the southern province of Guangxi in China - a female stick insect that has been named Phryganistria chinensis Zhao.

It measured over half a metre in length - that is a very big bug!

http://phys.org/news/2016-05-chinese...d-longest.html

http://news.discovery.com/animals/in...ect-160505.htm

http://www.popsci.com/introducing-worlds-longest-insect

The original female compared to some of the other largest insects in the world.

https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Or0...4417451n.0.jpg

One of her offspring (growing fast).

http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.c...4ug8F&fc=50,50

Not a huge insect by any means but I will pop this story in here rather than start a new thread.

Are we all alone in the universe?

Perhaps we should ask a humble Dung beetle - as they are highly skilled astronomers! cool:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36279682

http://www.livescience.com/54740-dun...-navigate.html

http://phys.org/news/2016-05-dung-be...firmament.html

Not giants but very interesting all the same.

The remarkable variety of ways that spiders use silk - including the incredible recent discovery of 'Silkhenge'.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160...and-silkhenges

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/w...p/p03yhp22.jpg

This caterpillar takes snake mimicry to a new level.

http://www.earthtouchnews.com/wtf/wt...mics-in-nature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XUSYv7xgPo

Finally, the astonishing relationship between a cunning butterfly species and the deadly ants that live in their forest home.

http://www.earthtouchnews.com/discov...-their-bidding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrPWAQR-Rb8

A giant aquatic centipede has been discovered.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...a-new-species/

More on the newly discovered aquatic scolopendrid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0403l15

The joy of cockroaches!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...hes-180960274/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIvayEWqNns

Just a nice image of the largest bee in the world - Megachile pluto.

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BokUGILIUAE918G.jpg:large