What is the Smallest known Insect in the world?

Question

...my six year old asked and made me curious!

Answer 1

Fairyflies are tiny wasps (family Mymaridae) that are probably the smallest of all insects. In Dicopomorpha echmepterygis, a Costa Rican species that parasitizes the eggs of other insects, the males may be no more than 0.139 mm in length. Their tiny bodies, neatly packaged with complete digestive, reproductive, respiratory, and circulatory systems are actually smaller than a single-celled paramecium.

Answer 2

There are an incredible number of very small insects in the world, far more than there are giants. Many beetles are less than one millimetre in length, and the North American Feather-winged Beetle Nanosella fungi, at 0.25mm, is a serious contender for the title of smallest insect in the world. Other insect orders which contain extremely small members are the Diptera (True Flies) and the Collembola (Springtails).

There are also many small Hymenoptera, especially in the Superfamily Chalcidoidea, such as the Fairy Flies, of the family Myrmaridae, of which Alaptus magnanimus, at 0.21mm long, was once thought to be the smallest insects in the world. However another Hymenopteran parasite now holds the record. Megaphragma caribea from Guadeloupe, measuring out at a huge 0.17 mm long, is now probably the smallest known insect in the world.

Answer 3

1. The smallest known insect is a parasitic wasp know as the fairy fly, (Prestwichia aquatica) and is only 1/100 of an inch long.

2. The largest known insect is the Goliath beetle, (Goliathus druryi). It can grow up to 8 inches long and weighs as much as a small bird.

3. The Giant Australian stick insect (Exatosoma tiaratum), measuring in at 13 inches, is the longest known insect.

4. The giant hunting wasp (Editha magnifica) flies at a record speed of 48 miles per hour.

5. The Oriental atlas moth (Attacus atlas) has a wingspan of 13 inches.

6. A mutillid wasp, the South African velvet ant (Traumatomutilla species) is the most poisonous insect known.

Answer 4

Smallest known Insect in the world is gnat.
The term gnat is applied as a colloquial name to any of various small insects in the order Diptera and specifically within the suborder Nematocera. This suborder represents the more primitive members of the Dipteran order but still contains several very notable and important families such as the Chironomidae (non-biting midges) and the Culicidae (mosquitoes). Other families include the Tipulidae (crane flies), Bibionidae (hairflies), Ceratopogonidae (biting midges), Cecidomyidae (gall midges), Simuliidae (black flies), and others. The males often assemble together in large mating swarms. Gnat larvae are mostly free-living, many feeding on plants though some are carnivorous. Larval plant feeders, e.g., the Hessian fly larvae, cause root, stem, and leaf galls to be formed by the host plant. Some species of fungus gnats (families Mycetophilidae and Sciaridae) are very common pests of mushrooms and roots of potted plants in homes and greenhouses.

Some South American Pleurothallid orchids are pollinated by tiny gnats and have correspondingly small flowers.

Answer 5

Hymenopteran parasite now holds the record. Megaphragma caribea from Guadeloupe, measuring out at a huge 0.17 mm long, is now probably the smallest known insect in the world.

~i hope this helps it may be a little bit detailed for your six year old but hopefully you can simplify it for him.~

Answer 6

The smallest known insect is a parasitic wasp know as the fairy fly, (Prestwichia aquatica) and is only 1/100 of an inch long.

Answer 7

Well that would have to be dust mite not an insect but the smallest arachnid in the world.

Answer 8

smallest known insect is an mite

Answer 9

the midge. the little pests swarm. Or possibly dust-mites

Answer 10

The gnat?