DAILY NO. 25 · VERIFIED MEASUREMENTS
Today's five insects & bugs Size It Up comparisons with the measured size of each object, its reference and a source you can check. The puzzle is still live, so every answer stays hidden until you tap it. Haven't played yet? Play today's puzzle first.
The October 16, 2026 puzzle ran from a mosquito at 1.5 cm to a giant centipede at 30 cm — about 20× apart, drawing on insects & bugs. The pair furthest apart was round 1: a mosquito is 1.2× as big as a leafcutter ant.
Answer: Mosquito — 1.5 cm. A mosquito measures 1.5 cm (length / span), which is 1.2× as big as the reference, a leafcutter ant at 1.3 cm.
Only the females bite; the whine is the wingbeat, hundreds of times a second.
Common miss: players tend to compress a mosquito when it sits beside a leafcutter ant — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Goliath Beetle — 11 cm. A Goliath beetle measures 11 cm (length / span), which is 1.1× as big as the reference, a hamburger at 10 cm.
Among the heaviest insects alive — the larvae can reach 100 g.
Common miss: players tend to compress a Goliath beetle when it sits beside a hamburger — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Giant Centipede — 30 cm. A giant centipede measures 30 cm (length / span), which is 1.1× as big as the reference, an American football at 28 cm.
Scolopendra gigantea hunts bats in mid-air, plucking them from cave ceilings.
Common miss: players tend to compress a giant centipede when it sits beside an American football — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Giant Wētā — 10 cm. A giant wētā measures 10 cm (length / span), which is almost exactly the same size as the reference, a monarch butterfly at 10 cm.
One of the heaviest insects on Earth — a large female outweighs a sparrow.
Common miss: players tend to inflate a giant wētā when it sits beside a monarch butterfly — big things get squeezed, small familiar things get stretched.
Answer: Goliath Birdeater — 28 cm. A Goliath birdeater measures 28 cm (length / span), which is 1.2× as big as the reference, an NBA basketball at 24.3 cm.
Its leg span can be wider than a dinner plate.
Common miss: players tend to compress a Goliath birdeater when it sits beside an NBA basketball — 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.