stomach ' data on all these beetles is scarce , but I have weighed a fresh dead 152mm male Titanus at 34g and this is equal to or heavier than available data on the other contending species . Since female Titanus are extremely rare in collections and very few have ever been examined , it is not known if females can attain the same maximal size as males . However , if they follow the same trend as all the better-known prionids , they will prove to attain a similar size or larger . I have no doubt that a heavilygravid female Titanus of around 160mm could weigh in excess of 40g . Any doubts about the status of Titanus as the world ' s largest insect are put to bed if you set a large specimen as if in flight . The overall size with the wings fully spread is breathtaking , and a maximal-sized specimen would have a wingspan approaching 28cm , making Titanus the insect with the largest wingspan also .
Through trading and purchase I now have 12 specimens of Titanus ranging from 112mm to 155mm in overall length . This has dampened the symptoms of Titanus fever somewhat , but I still hope to get a really big one of 160mm or more and eventually visit French Guiana to see the great beetle in its natural habitat . Perhaps paradoxically to some , it is the enduring interest in this beetle through collecting and tourism that may ultimately ensure its ongoing survival . An article by entomologist Max Barclay on Titanus on the Natural History Museum , London , website states : ‘ There are villages in French Guiana where many people supplement their income by collecting insects in general and Titanus in particular , for sale to dealers and collectors . This cottage industry ensures the continued survival of the forests in these areas , and all the species they support . Because female Titanus beetles are nearly impossible to collect , the commercial industry deals almost entirely in males . This makes the business truly sustainable , because the removal of males is less damaging to a population than removal of females ( because one male can fertilise many females ).’
The majority of tropical countries in South America , Africa and Asia have either banned insect collecting by non-professionals or made the process of issuing permits so onerous that most give up . This spectacularly unintelligent approach to biodiversity conservation often occurs with the backdrop of large -scale habitat destruction of forests in those countries . A recent French research report on the taxonomic status of the insect fauna of French Guiana recognised that 65 % of insect faunal records and 74 % of holotypes of new species were collected
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