Insects have long been able to provoke strong reactions from humans - joy at the sight of magnificent monarchs, fear when they see cockroaches. But there are also creatures that fly, swim and crawl under the radar, and they are so small that they are basically invisible to the human eye.
These creatures have appropriately cute names such as the pygmy blue butterfly and the tinkerbell wasp. Unfortunately, little is known about some of these species, as their size not only makes them difficult to spot, but also makes studying them a challenge for scientists.
From spiders smaller than a needle to praying mantis a centimeter long, here are the world's smallest insect wonders.
Western pygmy blue butterfly
Pamela Mobray-Graeme/Flickr/Creative Commons
Although they look ornate and delicate, prehistoric fossils suggest that butterflies have been around for more than 200 million years. The prehistoric ancestors of modern butterflies flew among dinosaurs in an era when there were not even pollen-rich flowers to enjoy. They also managed to survive mass extinction events such as ice ages. Today, Lepidoptera currently includes more than 180,000 species, including not only butterflies but also members of the moth family.
The youngest member of the butterfly family is considered to be the pygmy blue butterfly (Brephidium exilis). Western gnomes are found throughout North America, reaching as far west as Hawaii and the Middle East. It can be identified by the copper-brown and dark blue pattern at the base of the wings. The wingspan of this little butterfly is only 12 mm. Its counterpart, the eastern blue pygmy, can be found in the forests of the Atlantic coast.
Patu Digua spider
Facundo M. Labarque? Creative Commons
Most spiders found around American homes are beneficial, not harmful. This includes the smallest spider, Patu Digua.
Patu Digua lives around the Rio Digua River near El Queremal in the Valle del Cauca region of northern Colombia. They are difficult to spot because males grow to only a third of a millimeter, even smaller than the head of a pin. Some people think that spiders crawling somewhere are even smaller. For example, the female Anapistula caecula in West Africa is about three hundredths of an inch, and the male may be smaller. Usually, male spiders are smaller than female spiders.
Scarlet pygmy dragonfly
Among insects, dragonflies are among the largest flying insects. In fact, the dragonfly's prehistoric ancestor, the giant vein dragonfly, is one of the largest known insects with a wingspan of over 70 cm. The fossil record shows that it lived 300 million years ago during the Triassic period and was a predator that fed on other insects. Today's dragonfly species (Odanata), although not that large, can have a wingspan of nearly 20 cm and a body length of about 12 cm.
At the tiniest end, the tiniest dragonfly is the scarlet pygmaea. It is also known as the northern pygmy fly or baby dragonfly. Part of the dragonfly family, the native territory of the scarlet pygmy extends from Southeast Asia to China and Japan. It is occasionally found in Australia. Dragonflies have a wingspan of about 20 millimeters or three-quarters of an inch.
Dwarf moth
Butterflies are often associated with warmth during the day, while moths tend to fly at night. However, it is not always easy to distinguish between them. For example, Melanitis leda or common late brown butterflies are considered nocturnal butterflies, and some moths fly out during the day. The best way to distinguish them is to look at the antennae, as butterflies have a small bulbous tip compared to moths that do not.
The smallest moths come from the moth family and are known as pygmy moths or pygmy moths. Some species, such as the beanie moth (Enteucha acetosae), have a wingspan of only 3 mm, while the common moth has a wingspan of 25 mm. They start by picking small larvae from the leaves of various host plants. The chewing patterns of caterpillars leave a unique and considerable imprint on the leaves they eat.
Bolbe Pygmaea praying mantis
Praying mantis are rare insects that have a special relationship with humans. The ancient Greeks believed that praying mantis had supernatural powers and were deified in ancient Egyptian texts. Chinese especially loved and revered an insect, which ancient poems describe as a symbol of courage and fearlessness.
In fact, the praying mantis's outstretched arm fighting techniques and strategies have inspired at least two popular martial arts, the "northern praying mantis" and the "southern praying mantis." The praying mantis is also one of the few insects that is kept and kept as a pet.
The order Mantis consists of more than 2,400 species and can reach a maximum of 3.5 inches when erect. However, the smallest praying mantis species, Bolbe pygmaea, is only 1 cm long and can be found in Australia.
Microtityus Minimus Scorpion
Scorpions are often considered to be among the most ferocious and deadly insects. It turns out that they can repel and defeat larger carnivores, such as giant spiders. This ability to predate evolved over the course of more than 430 million years, with complex features such as poisonous stingers, strong claws, and thick exoskeletons used as body armor. But while scorpion venom is poisonous, only 25 species of scorpions produce toxins capable of killing humans.
This makes even the smallest scorpion species a tough little guy. The Microtityus minimus is the world's smallest scorpion, discovered in 2014 by researchers while surveying the Greater Antilles on Hispaniola in the Dominican Republic. An adult scorpion is only 11 mm long, which makes its claws and stingers less intimidating and a little cute.
Euryplatea Nanaknihali fly
At less than half a millimeter, Euryplatea nanaknihali is the smallest fly species on Earth. These tiny flies lay their eggs in the ants' heads, and once the eggs hatch and the larvae grow, they begin to devour their host from the inside out, eventually decapitating the ants. While this is a very scary thing, they are not the only fly species that employ this breeding strategy. Species of the Phoridae fly family also lay eggs in ants.
Uranotaenia lowii mosquito
Bloodthirsty mosquitoes One of the most maddening things is that they sneak up on us. Although the sucked blood was enough to double their weight, the mosquitoes were able to deploy a special wing-flapping technique that allowed them to quietly dive and take off without being detected. This cunning evasion is especially problematic in parts of the world where mosquitoes are known to transmit deadly viruses and diseases.
Luckily, the world's smallest mosquito doesn't like the smell of human blood. The 2.5 mm long Uranotaenia lowii, sometimes called the white-footed Uranotaenia, likes to bite frogs and other amphibians. They use their innate acoustic sensitivity to croaking and other sounds to locate targets. The habitat of Uranotaenia lowii extends south from Texas to Florida and north to North Carolina.
Fairy bee
The smallest insects in the world belong to the family Fairy flies or fairy bees. On average, they are only 0.5 to 1 mm in length. Irish entomologist Alexander Henry Haliday first noticed the discovery of fairy flies in 1833 and described them as "atoms of hymenoptera". Hymenoptera are large orders of insects that include sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Fairy flies are found all over the world, thriving in a variety of environments and ecosystems, from humid rainforests to dry deserts.
The smallest insect species in the family, Dicopomorpha echmepterygis, is only 0.139 mm long and is therefore almost undetectable with the naked eye. They have neither wings nor eyes, only a mouth and two small antennae. The smallest flying insect is also a fairy called kikiki huna (0.15 mm), which inhabits areas of Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Trinidad. Kikiki is a close relative of the tinkerbella wasp (Tinkerbella nana wasp), another fairy fly whose name somewhat fits perfectly with its petite (0.17 mm) stature.