Found: World's Biggest Insect

Adventurer Mark Moffett has found the world's biggest insect - which is so huge it likes nothing more than munching on carrots.

Former park ranger Mark, 53, discovered the giant weta up a tree and it has now been declared the largest ever found.

He came across the cricket-like creature, which has a wing span of seven inches, after two days of searching on a tiny island.

The creepy crawly is only found on Little Barrier Island, in New Zealand.

Image: Solent

The species were wiped off the mainland by rats accidentally introduced by Europeans.

After Mark found the female weta he fed it the carrot before putting it back where he found her.

Mark, 53, said: "Three of us walked the trails of this small island for two nights scanning the vegetation for a giant weta.

"We spent many hours with no luck finding any at all, before we saw her up in a tree.

"The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found, she weighs the equivalent to three mice.

"She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away.

"She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species and we didn't want to risk indigestion.

"After she had chewed a little I took this picture and we put her right back where we found her."

Mark, from Colorado, America, added: "We bug lovers hear a lot of people who think insects are inferior in some way because of their size, so it was great to see such a big insect.

"This became all the more amazing when we realized that this was the largest insect recorded."

Images: Solent/Google Maps