ants. they can farm, tend livestock (aphids), know complex engineering, have distinct castes that have evolved to perform specific jobs, and there's untold trillions of them. sure, bees create honey - but so do ants. wasps are crazy dangerous - but so are ants.
ants/humans vs scorpions/spiders - the war to end all wars.
Ants can make us their slaves if we do not cooperate. They have the largest colonies and are the most organized. However, they have clans and problems just like humans now.
Beetles. 25% of species we've discovered are beetles.
British evolutionary biologist and geneticist J.B.S. Haldane quipped that if a god or divine being had created all living organisms on Earth, then that creator must have an “inordinate fondness for beetles.”
God has beetles backs, so we get beetles on our side, we get God on our side.
Mosquitoes. If they were organised and had a goal, they could destroy humans. Imagine if they all line up to suck from someone with loads of diseases to get some viral load and then go and seek out people in positions of power to infect.
Came here for spiders. I was always afraid of spiders when I was younger, but now I marvel at them. I get huge orb weavers on my deck in summer. I love watching them meticulously spin their spin and wait, static, floating on glass threads.
In the UK we call them daddy long legs, I don't know what they would be called in the US - though I think it might be horseflies(?). Anyway I was told at School that IF they could break human skin, they would be deadly to us - but they haven't evolved that ability - yet. So I think they would be who I would befriend first - just in case.
Why is everything we get taught as children utter rubbish? Just like the eating spiders in your sleep rubbish too. Sigh. Thanks for resolving a 30 year anxiety though 😂
Honestly, I'm going to go with spiders. I love spiders, and the fact that I can have an army of Hobos, Fiddlebacks (Brown Recluse), Redbacks, Mouse, and Funnelwebs, that people are already naturally are terrified of but also regularly prey on other insects? Yes please! Plus, it would mean all the jumpers would be my buddies! Precious little fluffy babies<3
A close second is wasps, but that's only because wasps species make up 1/3 of all insect species out there.