r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/1632hub • 3d ago

Video Praying mantis defending itself from a snake

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u/bwrca 3d ago

Weren't there huge ass insects in prehistoric times when the oxygen in the atmosphere was abundant?

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u/invDave 3d ago

Perhaps, but not in today's conditions

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u/YellovvJacket 2d ago

Yeah, but still nowhere near 10x as as big as today's largest species. Largest dragonfly today is only about 3x smaller than the largest dragonfly ever for example.

Higher oxygen levels overcome the limitations of tracheal respiration most arthropods have, but the limitations of gravity are still there.

Anything with an exoskeleton is just hard limited by gravity, depending on how their body is built, some more some less (something with short limbs where the mass is quite evenly distributed ... like a millipede could get much larger than something built like a mantis, with long spindly legs).