What would happen if every species of arthropod grew five times bigger overnight?

I often have musings and ‘what if’ questions like these so was wondering if anyone had any interesting thoughts on this strange subject.

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If every arthropod grew five times bigger overnight, picnics would turn chaotic, giant flies would buzz like helicopters, and butterfly watching would become an outdoor circus—fascinating and frantic!

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I would be happy because so many more spiders would be big enough for my camera :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:
I doubt anyone else in my family would be happy, though!

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Ha, ha

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Being bitten by a mosquito would definitely cause some panic and would probably result in a hospital trip. :grimacing:

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Just imagine what two broods of cicadas would look and sound like… ;-)

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You would have to wear lots of ear protection. :laughing:

You’d be able to see the no-see-ums. But just barely.

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A machete would be used to get through the blackfly jungles. Milkweed would go extinct because of the giant monarchs. I would no longer use a telephoto lens for insect photography. The dragonflies would be a reminder of the Triassic Period.

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Does anyone even want to discuss what it would be like to have a house full of 10 inch cockroaches? :wink:

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Honestly, I don’t see why people hate cockroaches so much… I love them, they’re faces are super cute!

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I don’t understand it much either, but then again, I’ve never lived in a cockroach infested building.

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Are we assuming there are no physical limitations? Many of them would fail to function in their current form. Large ones wouldn’t be able to breathe well, support themselves, and the smaller ones liek fairy flies and thrips and the like, wouldn’t able to fly as their wings structures are adapted to a different method of flight than other insects.

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One lobster (they are arthropods, right?) would be enough to make 50 lobster rolls.

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I think I would be concerned for the bumblebees… They would have a problem balancing on a flower. It would be easier to photograph springtails!

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Ticks would be easier to spot, so there is that.

They are arthropods. They belong to crustaceans like crabs, shrimps, and isopods.

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Yes! Those are so hard to get good photos of.

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My deli cups full of springtail cultures would explode, and my isopod bins would get very crowded. My cats would probably start trying to eat the springtails, and since they jump around defensively, I imagine the result would be somewhat like a skillet of popping popcorn all across the floor.

I imagine a lot more people would start eating a wider variety of arthropods fairly quickly.

I imagine mosquitos would get both worse (because they’d be huge) and easier to control, because they’d be blocked by coarser meshes, and would be easier to swat - and maybe easier for birds and bats to catch?

Non-athropods that eat insects would probably either be devasated (if they’re small and can’t catch bigger ones) or would flourish (if a lot more species end up in their size range). I imagine that would be a boon for mesopredatory vertebrates.

Really weird things would happen anywhere barnacles are encrusted in large numbers.

Centipedes would get even scarier, but on the plus side, millipedes would be even more fun as pets.

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Logs would be lifted because of the pillbugs.