Skull Island bugs

“	Mosquito nets here are useless - better to use barb wire and sentries	„
	— Unknown, Fall expedition to Skull Island, 1936 (The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island)

The following is a list of arthropods living on Skull Island across the various continuities and stories featuring King Kong.

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RKO

Name	Image	Appearance(s)	Description
Great Spider		King Kong (1932), "The Lost Spider Pit Sequence" (2005)	Main article: Great Spider. While scrapped from the film version, the 1932 novelization of King Kong featured a species of keg-shaped spiders that lived in a slimy chasm. They swarmed around prey that fell into their domain. In the 1991 comic adaptation, they spun a web across the pit's bottom to help in landing meals.
Octopus-Insect		King Kong (1932), "The Lost Spider Pit Sequence" (2005)	Main article: Octopus-Insect. A species of insect with octopus-like arms inhabited the Skull Island chasm in the 1932 novelization. They were also scrapped from the film.
Crab creature		"The Lost Spider Pit Sequence" (2005)	A creature somewhere between a crab and a spider was intended to appear in the original film, but the sequence in which they appeared was cut and has since been lost to time. However, one appeared in Peter Jackson's recreation of the scene, in which it attacked and ate one of the crew members of the Venture.

Universal

Name	Image	Appearance(s)	Description
Skull Island Termites		The World of Kong	The Skull Island Termites were divided into three castes. The winged caste left the mound to breed, and the two soldier castes protected it. The spade-shaped variety had powerful jaws, and the narrow-headed variety could spit noxious chemicals to ward away attackers. The termites were known to make enormous termite mounds that could rival the island's dinosaurs in size. Some dinosaurs like Ferrucutus used the termites to combat dermal parasites by brushing up on the mounds and allowing the termites to kill anything unwelcome, while its own hide kept the dinosaur from harm. Their larvae were a favorite source of protein for Calcarisaurus.
Scissor-Beetle		The World of Kong	Scissor-Beetles were blood-seeking flightless carrion-eating insects that used grasshopper-like legs to hop onto prey, where they used their blade-like mandibles to cut off chunks of meat.
Maggotfly		The World of Kong	Maggotflies were hairy, flying bugs that dropped their young on rotting carcasses, while feeding off the maggots left by other flies. If the adult Maggotfly was unable to deposit their young within the first few hours after their hatching, they would eat their parent, on which they rode.
Meat Weevil		The World of Kong	Meat Weevils were a species that laid eggs in carcasses that were so resilient that they survived being eaten by carrion feeders that hatched and emerged from the respective animal's dung.
Carrion Centipede		The World of Kong	Carrion Centipedes were carrion feeders that would remove meat from a carcass and bury it.
Ornate Carrion Beetle		The World of Kong	Ornate Carrion Beetles, in order to stake their claims at the rare and highly demanded unattended kills of Skull Island, evolved to smell carrion from miles around, and emit noxious chemicals from their brightly colored shells to deter other carrion feeders. The swarms of beetles could then stake an exclusive claim to the carcass.
Nigracassida		The World of Kong	Nigracassida dung beetles grew to three or four inches in length and specialized in harvesting the more than plentiful deposits of excrement on Skull Island and burying them for later consumption. They were preyed on by White Wedgeheads, a species of lizard that had evolved specifically to eat them.
Moonspider		• King Kong • The World of Kong	Moonspiders, a variety of the 10-legged Sunspiders, hunted at night to avoid being preyed upon by larger organisms. Their powerful jaws and paralytic venom made short work of the rodents, lizards, birds, and dinosaur chicks it fed on. Moonspiders adapted to pick up the scent of egg matter in the night, cluing the Moonspider in that a nest was hatching. The Moonspider then located the nest and would eat the dinosaur hatchlings. When Ann Darrow tried to escape from King Kong, the large spider-like animal, possibly the Moonspider, hiding under a flagstone began to move its limbs threateningly in front of her face. In an undated script of the film, only creepy insects are described in this scene. Gallery
Estrivermus		The World of Kong	Estrivermis were swamp-dwelling 15- to 20-inch parasites that used their sharp, pointed mouths to burrow into blood vessels and attach themselves. The Estrivermis would then attach themselves and feed from the blood vessel for the rest of its life, with its tail still hanging outside, spewing excrement and eggs into the swamp waters. Gallery A diagram of Estrivermis feeding
Profanus		The World of Kong	Profanus were 20- to 30-inch-long free-swimming tapeworms that burrowed through the skin of their prey to expose the flesh and deposit their eggs into the wound. The Profanus larvae then hatched and lived in the wound until they swam away to breed. Gallery A diagram of Profanus feeding
Contereobestiolla		The World of Kong	Contereobestiolla lived as larvae in still freshwater until they were ingested by a fish. They then attached themselves to the fish's insides, pupated and lived in the gut as fully grown one- to three-inch arthropods that fed on swallowed food, and slowly multiplied inside the fish until they took over its entire digestive system.
Nepalacus		The World of Kong	Nepalacus were aquatic neopedes, Skull Island descendants of centipedes, that could grow to anywhere from eight to 16 inches in length. They had webbed legs, making them agile swimmers, and there were many species with varying ranges of leg lengths and webbing patterns.
Aspiscimex		The World of Kong	Aspiscimex were predatory neopedes with soft, flexible bodies that lived in Skull Island's swampland. Their hind-most legs were replaced by a flat tail, and their jaws were sharp and powerful, allowing them to prey on small fish. They grew up to 18 to 23 inches in length.
Hydruscimex		The World of Kong	Hydruscimex were the largest neopede at lengths ranging from nine to 12 feet. Its poison was not the most potent of the neopedes, but its size alone allowed it to inject lethal doses strong enough to down small dinosaurs.
Mortifillex		The World of Kong	Mortifillex were three- to four-foot-long aquatic bugs that used a hook-like lure to attract prey, and specially adapted mandible-like arms to inject nerve poison.
Scorpio-pede		• King Kong • The World of Kong	Main article: Scorpio-pede. Scorpio-pedes were neopedes that lived in Skull Island's swamps. As larvae they were fully aquatic predators, but as adults they lived near the water and harvested algae from the rocks and trees.
Predatory Pond Skaters		The World of Kong	Predatory Pond Skaters were insects that skimmed the surface of Skull Island's still waters that sucked fluid out of their unsuspecting victims after locating them by homing in on the ripples they created on the water's surface.
Mortaspis		The World of Kong	Mortaspis were black and yellow relatives of the mosquito that sucked blood in Skull Island's swamps.
Spinaculex		• The World of Kong • Journey to Skull Island	Spinaculex were two-inch-long red spiny mosquitoes that had bulbous thoraxes that could expand to accommodate the blood they sucked. The constant drone of their wings was a constant annoyance to the young Ligocristus that lived in the swamps.
Gyas		The World of Kong	Gyas were 20- to 30-inch-long centipedes that specialized in cracking eggshells from ground-nesting birds with their huge, scissor-like mandibles before drinking the escaping fluid.
Megapede horridus		The World of Kong	Megapede horridus were three- to four-foot-long centipedes that used their strong legs to grab their prey from the jungle floors before injecting their venom.
Megapede dereponecis		• King Kong • The World of Kong • Kong's Kingdom • Journey to Skull Island	Main article: Megapede dereponecis. Megapede dereponecis were three- to five-foot-long centipedes, and were the largest centipede species ever to have lived. Because of this, they were too heavy to climb trees, and thus they hunted in their roots for hatchling dinosaurs which they immobilized with their venom. Females chewed tunnels into rotting logs and laid their eggs inside them. They then grew extremely territorial of the log and attacked anything that may have threatened their young.
Megapede humus		The World of Kong	Megapede humus were 26- to 40-inch-long centipedes that used their large sets of front legs to burrow underground and eat rats and other insects in their burrows.
Megapede impurus		The World of Kong	Megapede impurus lived in the filth below Terapusmordax colonies. The nearly three-foot-long centipedes fed on infant Terapusmordax that fell from the ceiling, and would strike before they could crawl back up, assuming they had not died or sustained a horrible injury.
Stickalithus		The World of Kong	Stickalithus were eight- to 12-foot-long spiders that ate human-sized carnivorous birds and dinosaurs. Being too large to spin an intricate web, Stickalithus instead used their silk to create a nursery for their young. To capture prey, they waited in the low branches and foliage to hide themselves and dropped down to drain their prey, whose empty husks littered the ground beneath their roosts.
Wicked Weaver		The World of Kong	Wicked Weavers were four- to six-inch-long spiders that spun thin webs to ensnare small birds, insects, and some flying lizards. While some prey was large enough to break free and fall to the jungle floor, the Wicked Weaver's venom quickly immobilized prey and minimized their chance of escape.
Idolon illotus		The World of Kong	Idolon illotus were slim and fast predatorial centipedes that lived in the jungle canopy and hunted for flizards. Its venom could kill prey within moments of a bite. They could grow to sizes ranging from 10 to 14 inches.
Idolon venefaucus		The World of Kong	Idolon venefaucus lived in the dense leaves and vines to ambush their prey. Their grey coloring served to camouflage their 20- to 24-inch-long bodies from predators and prey. Only the Skull Island Hornbill was immune to their particular venom and thus it was the only animal species that was able to eat them without harming itself or being killed.
Omnimatercimex harpeforceps		The World of Kong	Omnimatercimex harpeforceps, ranging from 30 to 35 inches in length, were the largest of the tree-dwelling Skull Island centipedes. They preyed primarily on baby birds and baby dinosaurs. They had the unique trait of eating a hole into their meal, and lining it with their scent to warn off carrion hunters and ate their meal whole from the inside out. Baby dinosaurs could feed an Omnimatercimex for weeks.
Canopy Insects		The World of Kong	The Canopy Insects of Skull Island lived in many different ways, ranging from colony dwellers to solitary insects that were as individually adapted as one might find in any other ecosystem; however, there is no data of most of their individual behaviors provided.
Celocimex		• King Kong • The World of Kong	While the crew of the Venture were trekking through the Skull Island jungles, they were bothered by a swarm of Celocimex, which Lumpy blasted apart with his Tommy gun. Gallery
Noxmuscus		• King Kong • The World of Kong	Noxmuscus were predators that chose to prey primarily on the Sap Snails of Skull Island, which fed, as their name suggests, on tree sap. The Noxmuscus had developed a strong, flat proboscis to pry the snails from trees and to allow them to drop to the jungle floor, where they would jab it into the soft flesh and drink the snail's insides. While running away from Kong, Ann Darrow was stung on her shoulder by a Noxmuscus. Gallery
Unguasilus		• The World of Kong • Kong's Kingdom • Journey to Skull Island • Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World (Meredith books)	Unguasilus were bugs that sacrificed themselves for their young, a trait not commonly found in insects. Females laid parasitic eggs on their mate's thorax. The eggs then drained their father for nutrition through his porous exoskeleton. On hatching, the larvae slowly ate their father alive until they pupated in his dry husk and emerged as miniature versions of the fully grown wasps. Their likeness is used to represent all of the various Skull Island bugs in the electronic storybook based on the film. Gallery Unguasilus larvae feeding on an adult male
Decarnocimex		• King Kong • The World of Kong	Main article: Decarnocimex. Decarnocimex were five- to 10-foot-long carnivorous relatives of crickets that lived in the chasm depths of Skull Island and were famous for tearing prey apart with their bladed forelimbs. They resembled huge mole crickets, but with spikes on the thorax and pincers on the front limbs. Females dragged the carcasses of small animals that fell into their domain into holes dug into the chasm walls where they laid their eggs. They then sealed themselves in with a cement-like mucus. The young would then feed on the meat until they were old enough to eat their way out of the nursery.
Weta-rex		• King Kong • The World of Kong	Main article: Weta-rex. Weta-rexes were two- to three-foot-long relatives of the weta of New Zealand; however, unlike wetas, the Weta-rexes were ferocious carnivores. Using their shear-like mandibles, swarms of Weta-rexes could easily down an adult dinosaur.
Deplector		• King Kong • The World of Kong	Main article: Deplector. Deplectors were were four- to eight-foot-long land blind crabs that lived in chasms, where they hunted various small animals, catching them with their huge claws.
Arachno-claw		• King Kong • The World of Kong	Main article: Arachno-claw. Aracho-claws were arthropods four to six feet in size. They laid their microscopic eggs in carrion on the chasm floor, but most were either eaten by carrion eaters, or drowned in the slime that coated the pit's bottom. They were then ingested by Carnictis, in the guts of which they pupated and lived as stomach parasites until they pupated and emerged from the rectum as miniature adults.
Unnamed spider		King Kong (novelization)	While hiding from predators in a hollow beneath a tree, Ann Darrow was approached by a spider with hairy legs that were at least two feet long. It had only just begun to feel around on her leg when she fled from the scene in terror. Perhaps upset by the noise, several giant spiders, possibly of the same species encountered by Darrow, swarmed out of the cracks in the cliff walls as Bruce Baxter fired down at the bugs in the pit below to save the crew of the Venture.
Giant dragonfly		• King Kong (novelization) • Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie	A type of gigantic dragonfly-like bugs with wasp-like thoraxes were present when the surviving members of the crew of the Venture were rescued by Bruce Baxter. Several of the dragonfly creatures were blasted apart during this operation. In the video game, the corpses of giant dragonflies can be used to lure other creatures away from Jack if killed with a spear. Shooting them down will attract predators.
Scarab beetle		• Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World	The island was home to sizable scarab beetles whose shells could be found on the ground under various low bushes. Their shells could be combined with sulphur to create makeshift explosives comparable to a hand grenade.

Monsterverse

Name	Image	Appearance(s)	Description
Mother Longlegs		Kong: Skull Island, Skull Island: The Birth of Kong	Main article: Mother Longlegs. Mother Longlegs are a species of gargantuan spider with legs resembling bamboo shoots that lived and hunted in the bamboo forests of Skull Island.
Spore Mantis		Kong: Skull Island	Main article: Spore Mantis. The Spore Mantis is a species of giant insect that evolved to resemble logs on the forest floor.
Swamp Locust		Skull Island: The Birth of Kong	Main article: Swamp Locust. The Swamp Locust is a species of enormous aquatic insect that hunts by submerging its body before entrapping its prey with its long legs.
Snarehunter		Kong: Skull Island, Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure	Main article: Snarehunter. The Snarehunter is an ant-like superspecies with five castes, including Titan queens.
Giant wasp		Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization	During their expedition through the island, Conrad's party encountered a carnivorous plant with several dead animals inside its maw, including a wasp the size of Weaver’s hand.
Vinestrangler		Kong: Skull Island bonus feature — "Monarch Files 2.0 (Companion Archive)"	Main article: Vinestrangler. The Vinestrangler is a slender insect which uses dozens of tentacles to drag prey into its massive maw.
Trapdoor Crab		Skull Island	Main article: Trapdoor Crab.
Rock Bug		Skull Island	Main article: Rock Bug.
Giant Ant		Skull Island	Main article: Giant Ant (Monsterverse).
Giant scorpion		Skull Island	In "Terms of Endearment", Irene and her mercenaries discovered the art that Annie had carved on the hull of the beached ship that had stranded her on Annie's Island. One scene showed her and Dog fighting a giant scorpion. Trivia A Titan-scale scorpion monster previously appeared in concept art for Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Amberpede		Skull Island	Main article: Amberpede.
Mantleclaw		Monarch: Legacy of Monsters	Main article: Mantleclaw. The Mantleclaw is a crab Titan that can camouflage itself using its magma-like carapace.
Skull Island grub		Monarch: Legacy of Monsters	In "Cause and Effect", a Psychovulture, oblivious to the humans hiding nearby, pulled a large grub out of the ground and ate it, then flew away.

King Kong of Skull Island

Name	Image	Appearance(s)	Description
Giant spider		Kong of Skull Island (2016-17)	While confronting Ewata in the jungle, Queen Usana of the Tagatu was nearly attacked by a giant spider, which Ewata skewered before it could cause her harm.
Unnamed giant centipede		Kong: Gods of Skull Island (2017)	While Captain Cooper and his four remaining crewmen of the 1912 Conrad expedition to Skull Island was being chased through the jungle by Kong, a giant purple centipede with many red eyes leaped out of the jungle and ate one of the sailors.
Giant worm		Kong: Gods of Skull Island (2017)	In Bar-Atu's Kong religion, there is a tale of Kong's youth stating that when Kong was young, he was kidnapped by a giant worm from the center of the Earth, and rescued by his mother with whom he helped to kill the worm and liberate its followers.
Giant mosquitoes		Kong: Gods of Skull Island (2017)	A swarm of gigantic mosquitoes attacked Conrad and his missionaries as they trekked through the jungle.
Giant locust		Kong on the Planet of the Apes (2018)	While stationed on Skull Island, some gorilla troops killed a gigantic locust-like creature.
Winged maggots		Kong: The Great War (2023)	A population of at least 23 winged maggots made their home in a mud pit on the island, feeding on unsuspecting prey including several humans, which it left stripped to the bone.

Kong Reborn

Name	Image	Appearance(s)	Description
Purple fly		Kong Reborn	A species of fly that inhabited the coastal regions of Skull Island. They were far larger than a housefly, but by no means monstrous. Their bodies were purple in color.
White spider		Kong Reborn	A species of thick-legged white spiders about two feet across inhabited the jungles, and spun webs across well-traveled paths to snare passing creatures.
Giant centipede		Kong Reborn	30-inch-long creatures resembling giant centipedes were a common sight in the jungle. They could be seen feeding on carrion.
Goliath fly		Kong Reborn	Goliath flies were a species of fly of a size comparable to Goliath beetles.
Flat beetle		Kong Reborn	When a group of mercenaries arrived on Skull Island to assassinate Jack Denham, what is described solely as a "huge flat beetle" could be spotted traversing the stony ground around their Osprey.
Giant beetle		Kong Reborn	A species of one-foot-long cockroach-like beetles could be seen crawling on the island's trees. One specimen was blown to bits by a mercenary who had been spooked by its hissing vocalizations.
Scavenger beetle		Kong Reborn	A species of carrion feeding beetle lived on Skull Island and could be seen feeding on the carcasses of dinosaurs alongside giant vultures and other insects.

See also

• Skull Island mammals
• Skull Island birds and sealife
• Skull Island reptiles

References

This is a list of references for Skull Island bugs. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

Bibliography

• Falconer, Daniel; Weta Workshop (22 November 2005). The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island. Pocket Star. ISBN 978-1-4165-0519-8.
• Golden, Christopher (13 December 2005). King Kong. Pocket Star Books. ISBN 978-1-4165-0391-0.
• Blackford, Russell (1 November 2005). Kong Reborn. ibooks. ISBN 1-59687-133-4.

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