Wasp
Wasps first appeared in the fossil record in the Jurassic, and diversified into many surviving superfamilies by the Cretaceous. They are a successful and diverse group of insects with tens of thousands of described species; wasps have spread to all parts of the world except for the polar regions. The largest social wasp is the Asian giant hornet, at up to in length; among the largest solitary wasps is a group of species known as tarantula hawks, along with the giant scoliid of Indonesia ("Megascolia procer"). The smallest wasps are solitary chalcid wasps in the family Mymaridae, including the world's smallest known insect, with a body length of only , and the smallest known flying insect, only long.
List of largest insects
The largest species is probably either the Queen Alexandra's birdwing, "Ornithoptera alexandrae", a butterfly, or the Atlas moth, "Attacus atlas". Both of these species can exceed a length of , a wingspan of and a weight of 12 g. Their larvae can weigh up to . However, the white witch, "Thysania agrippina", has the longest recorded wingspan of the order, and indeed of any living insect, at up to , though it is exceeded in surface area and mass by both "Ornithoptera" and "Attacus".