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What’s the
smallest insect?
The smallest, fully
grown adult insect
is a male fairyfly (a
parasitic wasp) of the
species Dicopomorpha
echmepterygis. These
blind, wingless insects
are only 0.005 in
(0.139 mm long.
ESSENTIAL EGGS
A typical grain
of rice is /8 in
1
(4 mm) long and
0.1 in (2.5 mm) wide.
The fairyfly is a parasite that lives in the egg
of a bark louse (shown above). The male Parasitic wasps have no stinger and
fairyfly dies in the egg, but the female chews are completely harmless to people.
her way out so she can lay her own eggs in There are hundreds of different
other hosts before she dies. varieties: most are tiny in size and
brown or black in color. They have two
pairs of wings and long antennae.
US_252-253_309600_Smallest_Insect.indd 252 19/12/17 3:48 pm
