Euryplatea nanaknihali
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Euryplatea nanaknihali | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Diptera |
Family: | Phoridae |
Genus: | Euryplatea |
Species: | E. nanaknihali |
Binomial name | |
Euryplatea nanaknihali Brown, 2012 | |
At just 0.4 mm in size, Euryplatea nanaknihali is the world's smallest fly (Diptera).[1]
Due to its small size, the viscosity of air is problematic for the insect, and even the smallest air currents are a large problem. Scientists expressed amazement that such a tiny animal could still have all the organs of a normal insect.[2]
They are believed to lay their eggs in the body of small Crematogaster ants. The larva devours the body of the ant, within which they mature before emerging as adults.[2][3]
The species was found in a number of national parks in Thailand. Brown named the fly after Nanak Nihal Weiss, a thirteen-year-old interested in insects who frequents the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County with his father.[4]
References
- ↑ Brown, B.V. 2012: Small size no protection for acrobat ants: world's smallest fly is a parasitic phorid (Diptera: Phoridae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 105(4): 550-554. doi:10.1603/AN12011
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chelsea Whyte (July 2, 2012). "World's Smallest Fly Decapitates Ants and Lives in Their Severed Heads". International Science Times. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
- ↑ "World’s smallest fly discovered in Thailand". ScienceBlogs. July 3, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
- ↑ Black, Debra (July 9, 2012). "World’s tiniest fly discovered by former Torontonian". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
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