World's Tiniest Fly Discovered, Probably Decapitates Ants
Posted on July 2, 2012
Scientists have discovered the world's tiniest fly. The tiny fly, Euryplatea nanaknihali, is found in Thailand. It is just 0.40 millimeters in length, which is 15 times smaller than a house fly and 5 times smaller than a fruit fly. The image above is a reconstruction of the tiny phorid fly with body size compared to a house fly (Musca domestica). The new fly species is described in an article in the July issue of Annals of the Entomological Society of America.
The tiny fly belongs to a fly family (Phoridae) that is known for decapitating ants. Some species in the Phoridae fly family lay eggs in the bodies of ants, and the resulting larvae feed in the ants' heads, eventually causing decapitation.
Dr. Brian Brown of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the author of the paper, says these flies can probably decapitate some of the smallest ants in the world, ones with heads as small as 0.5 millimeters. Although this behavior has not yet been observed, Dr. Brown believes it is highly likely because the fly's only known relative, Euryplatea eidmanni, is known to parasitize and decapitate ants in Equatorial Guinea.
The discovery of the new tiny fly means even the world's smallest ants are not safe from decapitation via fly larvae.
Dr. Brown says, "It had always been assumed that smaller species of ants would be free from attack because it would be physically impossible for flies that are 1-3 millimeters in length to develop in their relatively tiny heads. However, here we show that even the smallest host ants in a host-parasitoid system cannot escape parasitism."