Random Grossest Bugs on Earth (14 items)

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  (#14) Silverfish

  • Organism Classification

  Silverfish are found all over the world... and also in my attic. Specifically, they are always waiting when I go up to said attic to get a book out of a box. I don't think they read, but they are always in the pages of any book I pull out. 

  It is for this reason that I find them gross. Not because they are possibly literate, but because they are pale grey and have lots of legs and those butt pinchers again (I don't know why having pinchers on your butt is so disturbing, but it is). And they do that earwig thing where they get all flat and fit into tiny crevices.
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  (#9) Earwig

  • Organism Classification

  There must be something about a shiny carapace, right? Or maybe it's those little moving pincher things on the butt, which they use to capture and hold prey.

  Their gross name may be related to the old wives' tale that earwigs burrowed into the brains of humans through the ear and laid their eggs there. Earwigs like hiding in warm humid crevices and I suppose nothing is stopping thrm from occasionally crawling into the human ear canal (much like any other small organism). Not that I've ever heard of something like that happening. (Though a spider did once crawl into mom's ear when she was sleeping. I know. I didn't sleep for a week after that.)

  Earwigs can also do that cockroach thing and get all flat to fit into the tiniest places you could ever imagine. Barf.
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  (#13) Weta

  • Organism Classification

  Bulbous, shiny and fleshy looking. Also, spikes. Bleech.

  Weta look a bit like a katydid, long-horned grasshopper, or cricket, but the hind legs are enlarged and usually very spiny.  They are nocturnal and different species have different diets. Most weta are predators or omnivores preying on other invertebrates, but the tree and giant weta eat mostly lichens, leaves, flowers, seed-heads and fruit.

  Weta can bite and inflict painful scratches, with the potential of infection, but their primary defense is mostly visual --  looking large and spiky and creepy.
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  (#2) Cave Spider

  Also known as the Tailless Whip Scorpion, this is neither a spider nor a scorpion. But it sure the @$#%#$% is terrifying.
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  (#12) Jerusalem cricket

  • Organism Classification

  Despite their name, Jerusalem crickets are not true crickets, nor are they native to Jerusalem. They are in the same family as the Weta, which is why they both look so shiny and fleshy and blaaarrrgh. These nocturnal insects use their strong mandibles to feed primarily on dead organic matter but can also eat other insects. Their highly adapted feet are used for burrowing beneath moist soil to feed on decaying root plants and tubers.

  While Jerusalem crickets are not venomous they can emit a foul smell and are capable of inflicting a painful bite. Not to worry, I won't be picking this thing up any time soon.
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  (#8) Antlion Larva

  I don't care how small these are, they look terrifying.

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