20 Scariest And Bizarre Prehistoric Bugs

From enormous scorpion-spiders … to creepy blood-suckers that annoyed dinosaurs, here are 20 scary and bizarre prehistoric bugs and critters!

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20. Myanmar Mash-Up
A truly bizarre discovery was made at one of the richest deposits of Cretaceous amber in Myanmar. It’s considered to be an extinct wingless wasp found inside amber that dates 100 million years old. The characteristics of several different insects are exhibited by this animal.

19. Giant Snails
In terms of giant-sized gastropods, the largest species today is the African Land Snail. They can grow more than 7 inches long (18 cm) with a shell diameter of about 3.5 inches (9 cm). If that’s not big enough for you, consider this prehistoric specimen.

18. Ticks
Ticks are another species that we're all too familiar with today, but also bugged the dinosaurs tens of millions of years ago. A collector in Burma found a lump of amber in 2017 that contained one that appears to be entangled with a feather, and it's teaching scientists about how they lived.

17. Euphoberia
If you’re squeamish about millipedes or centipedes, you can give thanks this creature is extinct. It was similar to today’s arthropods, with a big difference -- certain members of its genus could measure over 3 feet long (1 m)! Modern day centipedes are known to prey on animals as large as bats.

16. Platyceramus
While this list has a lot of insects and other creepy-crawlies. This creature is a bit different. And if you like seafood, it might make you more hungry than scared. Yet, this humongous prehistoric bivalve was too big to ignore. Platyceramus was one of the largest clams ever discovered.

15. Cameroceras
Its upper body size can only be estimated. Yet this is still regarded as one of the largest cephalopods that ever existed some 470 million years ago.

14. Meganeura
They’re related to present-day dragonflies, and would have resembled them as well. But these insects would have been much larger.

13. Pulmonoscorpius
Many scorpions are considered to be small, deadly, and carry a fearsome reputation. But this prehistoric monster measured about 30 inches long (76 cm) and would have looked like a real nightmare.

12. Fleas
If you've ever been around fleas, you'll know how annoying they can be… but imagine them being ten times the size, with an equally as big bite and thirst for blood, and that's what the dinosaurs had to face on a daily basis.

11. The Trouble With Trilobites
These are marine arthropods that scavenged in the oceans for hundreds of millions of years. By most accounts, they were among the most successful forms of early animal life.

10. Pambdelurion
Some of the scariest animal jaws in history may have belonged to this prehistoric creature. Paleontologists say its fossils have been found in China, and date back some 520 million years.

9. The Platypus of Crabs
Scientists discovered a new species of crab in 2019 that was unlike anything they’d ever seen. Dating back some 95 million years, the prehistoric animal had a shrimp-like mouth, the eyes of a larva, claws like a crab, and a lobster’s carapace.

8. Scorpion-Spiders
Around 100 million years ago, an arachnid existed that could nearly pass as a spider and scorpion hybrid. Paleobiologists found the creature’s remains preserved in Burmese amber in Myanmar.

7. Giant Shrimp
Its official name is Anomalocaris. ut it’s likely better known as the giant abnormal shrimp. It lived more than 500 million years ago and was first described in 1892.

6. Hallucigenia
This animal is known from fossils found in China and Canada. Its odd name is a reference to its hallucinatory appearance. They were tubular creatures about 3.5 cm long (1.4 inches), with up to 8 pairs of legs that each had a pair of claws.

5. Meganeuropsis
These enormous specimens existed more than 315 million years ago. And while they resembled dragonflies, they’re only distant relatives.

4. Manipulator
While we might assume a prehistoric cockroach was a huge version of today’s insect, such is not the case here. But even though Manipulator M. was a mere 4.5 millimeters long (0.18 inches), it would still give you a scare.

3. Arthropleura
Today’s largest species of millipede grows more than 15 inches long (38 cm). The largest centipede grows to about 12 inches long (30 cm). No doubt many of us think they’re scary enough to begin with.

2. Monster Sea Scorpions
One might quibble that Jaekelopterus wasn’t really a sea scorpion because it probably lived in freshwater environments. But there’s no arguing about how frightening this beast would have been.

1. Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are one of the largest causes of human fatalities throughout the world because of the diseases that they carry, with some estimates suggesting as many as 400,000 people die each year because of malaria alone.

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