Largest organisms
This article lists the largest
When considering singular entities, the largest organisms are
Among
Plants
The largest single-stem tree by wood volume and mass is the
The largest organism in the world, according to mass, is the aspen tree whose colonies of clones can grow up to 8 kilometres (5 mi) long. The largest such colony is Pando, in the Fishlake National Forest in Utah.
A form of flowering plant that far exceeds Pando as the largest organism on Earth in area and probably also mass, is the giant marine plant,
Another giant marine plant of the genus
The largest individual flower in the world is Rafflesia arnoldii, while the flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world is Amorphophallus titanum. Both are native to Sumatra in Indonesia.
Green algae
Green algae are photosynthetic unicellular and multicellular protists that are related to land plants. The thallus of the unicellular mermaid's wineglass, Acetabularia, can grow to several inches (perhaps 0.1 to 0.2 m) in length. The fronds of the similarly unicellular, and invasive Caulerpa taxifolia can grow up to a foot (0.3 m) long.[citation needed]
Animals
The
In 2023, paleontologists estimated that the extinct whale
Fungi
The largest living
A mushroom of this type in theA spatial genetic analysis estimated that a specimen of Armillaria ostoyae growing over 91 acres (37 ha) in northern Michigan, United States weighs 440 tons (4 x 105 kg).[27][28]
In
Until P. ellipsoideus replaced it, the largest individual fruit body came from Rigidoporus ulmarius. R. ulmarius can grow up to 284 kg (626 lb), 1.66 m (5.4 ft) tall, 1.46 m (4.8 ft) across, and has a circumference of up to 4.9 m (16 ft).
Lichen
The longest lichen is
Protists
(Note: the group
Amoebozoans (Amoebozoa)
- Among the organisms that are not unicellular, but they are multinucleate.
Euglenozoans (Euglenozoa)
- Some
Rhizarians (Rhizaria)
- The largest species traditionally considered Syringammina fragilissima, can attain a size of 20 cm (7.9 in).[36]
Alveolates (Alveolata)
- The largest ciliates, such as Spirostomum, can attain a length over 4 mm (0.16 in).[37]
Stramenopiles (Stramenopila)
- The largest giant kelp from the northwestern Pacific. The floating stem of Macrocystis pyrifera can grow to a height of over 45 m (148 ft).[38][39]
- Macrocystis also qualifies as the largest chromist, and the largest protist generally.
Bacteria
The largest known species of
- Cyanobacteria
- One of the largest "blue green algae" is Lyngbya, whose filamentous cells can be 50 μm wide.[45]
Viruses
The largest virus on record is Megaklothovirus horridgei, with the length of 4 micrometres, comparable to the typical size of a bacterium and large enough to be seen in light microscopes. It was discovered in 2018 (being mistaken for bristles beforehand), having been found on an arrow worm in the genus Spadella.[46] Prior to this discovery, the largest virus was the peculiar virus genus Pandoravirus, which have a size of approximately 1 micrometer and whose genome contains 1,900,000 to 2,500,000 base pairs of DNA.[47]
.
See also
- Charismatic megafauna
- Deep-sea gigantism
- Genome size
- Island gigantism
- Largest body part
- Largest prehistoric animals
- List of longest-living organisms
- List of heaviest land mammals
- List of world records held by plants
- List of largest inflorescences
- Lists of organisms by population
- List of longest vines
- Megafauna
- Smallest organisms
- Superorganism
References
Notes
- ^ The organism sizes listed are frequently considered "outsized" and are not in the normal size range for the respective group.
Citations
- ^ Mihai, Andrei (9 February 2015). "The Heaviest Living Organism in the World". ZME Science. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
- ^ "The Giant Sequoia National Monument". Sequoia National Forest. United States Department of Agriculture - Forest service. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
- ^ "Portuguese scientists discover world's oldest living organism". www.theportugalnews.com.
- ^ "Ibiza's Monster Marine Plant". Ibiza Spotlight. 28 May 2006. Archived from the original on 27 August 2006. Retrieved 2007-05-09.
- ^ Pearlman, Jonathan (7 February 2012). "'Oldest living thing on earth' discovered". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
- PMID 22312426.
- ^ Zimmer, Carl (29 February 2024). "Researchers Dispute Claim That Ancient Whale Was Heaviest Animal Ever - A new study argues that Perucetus, an ancient whale species, was certainly big, but not as big as today's blue whales". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- TheGuardian.com. 31 May 2022.
- S2CID 249204370.
- ^ Ibiza's Monster Marine Plant Archived 2007-12-26 at the Wayback Machine. Ibiza Spotlight (2006-05-28).
- ^ ISBN 978-0-85112-235-9
- ^ Davies, Ella (20 April 2016). "The longest animal alive may be one you never thought of". BBC Earth. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ "Largest mammal". Guinness World Records.
- PMID 38436015.
- ^ "How Large Are Blue Whales Really? Size Comparison". Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2019 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "How big are blue whales? And what does 'big' mean? By palaeozoologist on DeviantArt". February 2014.
- PMID 25649000.
- S2CID 260433513. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
- ^ Pester, Patrick (8 March 2024). "Colossus the enormous 'oddball' whale is not the biggest animal to ever live, scientists say". Lve Science. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- S2CID 259782734.
- ISBN 978-0-470-34448-4.
- ^ "Armillaria gallica, the humongous fungus humungus. Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for April 2002". botit.botany.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
- ^ "BBC News | SCI/TECH | Fantastic fungus find". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
- ^ "Armillaria gallica, the humongous fungus humungus. Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for April 2002". botit.botany.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
- ^ a b "Environment & Nature News - Humungous fungus: world's largest organism? - 10/04/2003". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
- ^ Vince Patton (12 February 2015). "Oregon Humongous Fungus Sets Record As Largest Single Living Organism On Earth (7 minute documentary video)". Oregon Field Guide. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
- hdl:10289/5404.
- ^ Jason Daley (15 October 2018). "This humongous fungus is as massive as three blue whales: A new estimate suggests this mushroom is 2,500 years old and weighs 440 tons". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
- ^ Walker, Matt. (2011-08-01) Giant fungus discovered in China. Bbc.co.uk
- PMID 21872178.
- S2CID 17570036.
- ISBN 978-0-300-08249-4.
- ^ "Usnea longissima". lichen.com. Lichens of North America. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
- ^ Slime Mold Photos Archived 2015-06-30 at the Wayback Machine. Waynesword.palomar.edu
- ^ "Protist Images: Euglena gigas". Protist Information Server. 2004.
- ^ "The 27 Best Deep-Sea Species: #22 Xenophyophores | Deep Sea News". www.deepseanews.com. 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
- ^ "Micscape Microscopy and Microscope Magazine". www.microscopy-uk.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
- ^ "Discover". www.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
- ^ "Giant kelp". www.montereybayaquarium.org. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
- ^ Wong, Carissa. "Largest known bacteria in the world are visible to the naked eye". New Scientist. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
- ^ Pennisi, Elizabeth. "Largest bacterium ever discovered has unexpectedly complex cells". Science. science.org. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
- ^ "Record bacterium discovered as long as human eyelash". BBC News. 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
- S2CID 249990020.
- ^ Amarachi Orie (June 23, 2022). "World's largest bacterium discovered is the size of a human eyelash". CNN. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ISBN 978-1-4020-6111-0.
- ^ Barthélémy, Roxane-Marie (8 January 2019). "Serendipitous Discovery in a Marine Invertebrate (Phylum Chaetognatha) of the Longest Giant Viruses Reported till Date". Biology.
- ^ Brumfiel, Geoff (18 July 2013). "World's Biggest Virus May Have Ancient Roots". National Public Radio. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
External links
- 10 of the largest living things on the planet Melissa Breyer. TreeHugger April 28, 2015