Mazothairos
Mazothairos was a giant insect with wings as wide as a big bird's. It lived about 309 million years ago, long before the dinosaurs. It is one of the biggest insects we know of.
When did it live?
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
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Fun facts
Its wings were about 56 centimetres from tip to tip, as wide as the giant griffinfly Meganeura.
We know it from only one small fossil piece of its body.
Its relatives are called six-winged insects, because they had two tiny extra wings in front of the four big ones. Nobody knows for sure if Mazothairos had them too.
It lived in a warm, wet land full of rivers, in a time called the Carboniferous.
Most asked questions about Mazothairos
?How big was Mazothairos?
Its wings were about 56 centimetres across, which makes it one of the largest insects ever.
?When did Mazothairos live?
About 309 million years ago, long before the first dinosaurs.
?What did Mazothairos eat?
Scientists think it sucked juice out of plants with a mouth like a straw.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Mazothairos
- Group
- Prehistoric giants
- Classification
- Insecta > Palaeodictyoptera
Where the facts come from
- Mazothairos (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by DiBgd. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Meganeura
Anomalocaris
Arthropleura
Hallucigenia
Opabinia
Megarachne