DAILY NO. 13 · VERIFIED MEASUREMENTS
The five insects & bugs objects from the Size It Up puzzle on September 13, 2026, with the measured size of each, the reference it was compared against, a source you can check, and how the community's guesses landed. Want the surprise first? Replay this puzzle — archived days never touch your streak.
Answer: a praying mantis measures 10 cm (length / span), which is almost exactly the same size as the reference, a monarch butterfly at 10 cm.
A mantis can turn its head almost all the way round, which few insects manage.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a praying mantis when it sits beside a monarch butterfly — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: a leafcutter ant measures 1.3 cm (length / span), which is about 1.2× smaller than the reference, a mosquito at 1.5 cm.
Leafcutters routinely carry many times their own body weight.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a leafcutter ant when it sits beside a mosquito — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: an Atlas moth wingspan measures 27 cm (length / span), which is 1.1× as big as the reference, an NBA basketball at 24.3 cm.
Atlas moths have some of the largest wings of any insect.
Common miss: players tend to compress an Atlas moth wingspan when it sits beside an NBA basketball — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: a ladybird beetle measures 1 cm (length / span), which is about 1.3× smaller than the reference, a leafcutter ant at 1.3 cm.
One ladybird can eat several thousand aphids in a lifetime.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a ladybird beetle when it sits beside a leafcutter ant — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: a large dragonfly measures 12 cm (length / span), which is about 1.3× smaller than the reference, a hot dog at 15 cm.
Dragonflies catch their prey on over ninety per cent of attempts, the best hit rate of any predator.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a large dragonfly when it sits beside a hot dog — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Sizes are measured along the axis named in each round and link to their published source. Explore the full library by category, or read how scoring works.