Science

‘Smaller Than a Flake of Pepper’: World’s Smallest Fly Feeds on Ant Brains

Here’s a new one for the record books. A new species of fly has flown in and taken the spot of world’s smallest. Euryplatea nanaknihali is so small it is hardly visible with the naked eye even when viewed on a microscope slide.

Although you might think the fly’s .4 millimeter size would be its claim to fame, it has another interesting feature. Scientists are pretty sure that the fly is a parasite that in its larval form feasts upon the brains of ants.

New Fly Species Identified as the Worlds Smallest: May Eat Ant Brains as Larvae

Here you can see a spec below a house fly. The spec represents E. nanaknihali. The image on the right is a blown up illustration of E. nanaknihanli. (Image: Inna-Marie Strazhnik)

Brian Brown with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles who identified the fly and published the finding in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America, said even ants as small as .5 millimeters in size are probably not safe.

“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,” he said, according to Discovery News. “However, here we show that even the smallest host ants in a host-parasitoid system cannot escape parasitism.”

Still, we can’t be too quick to judge the fly. It hasn’t officially been seen eating ant brains and making a home of the shell. It is hypothesized this is what they do as a close relative of the fly sets up shop the same way.

Live Science has more on the discovery in general:

The type specimen, a female, was picked up by the Thailand Inventory Group for Entomological Research in Kaeng Krachan National Park. The fly is the first of its kind discovered in Asia. [Microscopic Monsters: Gallery of Amazing Bugs]

It has smoky gray wings and the female they discovered has an egg-depositing organ that is pointed to make it easy to lay eggs inside another insect, as a parasitic fly would. While it’s not the smallest insect (that title belongs a species of fairy wasp, coming in at 0.14 millimeters in length, about the size of a human egg cell), it is the world’s smallest fly.

“When you get really small like that, the environment changes,” Brown said. “The viscosity of air starts to become a problem and wind currents are major events. It’s amazing how small something can be and still have all of its organs. This is a new frontier, and publishing this tiny fly is basically a challenge to other people to find something smaller,” he said.

Brown said that the fly is “smaller than a flake of pepper” and that a traditional housefly “looks like Godzilla” next to this one. According to Discovery News, a house fly is 15 times larger than E. nanaknihali and a fruit fly is five times larger.

Comments (25)

  • marcus_arealius
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 2:58pm

    Yet this fly and it’s hosts have larger brains than Joe Biden.

    Report Post »  
  • 65Plus
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 1:25pm

    Won’t touch fire ants.

    Report Post » 65Plus  
  • NCREPUB
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 11:26am

    Dems. better hide!!

    Report Post »  
  • ClaudeRains
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 11:18am

    Turn them loose in San Francisco

    Report Post »  
  • battles
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 10:45am

    Can these flies be taught to dine on succulent roach brains?

    Report Post » battles  
    • NCREPUB
      Posted on July 5, 2012 at 11:24am

      Tell them ants are democrats brains about the same

      Report Post »  
  • country_hick
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 9:49am

    This guy is from L.A.?

    The EPA MUST ban all insecticide sales in the Peoples Republic of California! The poor things are probably endangered and must be saved. We need studies! What about the route of Harry’s train? It might cut through their habitat. I’m betting the high speed rail planned from Sacramento to San Diego could endanger their survival.

    WE NEED MULTIPLE STUDIES OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS TO ENSURE THEY LIVE!

    Report Post »  
  • Secret Squirrel
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 8:59am

    .
    If they run out of ant brains, they can look to
    liberal logic, or democrat morals.
    “Hmmmm….successful gub’ment programs, yum.”

    Report Post » Secret Squirrel  
  • nickc66
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 3:25am

    He would starve at the Democrat convention in September.

    Report Post »  
    • Diane TX
      Posted on July 5, 2012 at 3:36am

      How many Democrats will actually attend this Convention? Gays? No. Democrats with a brain? No.

      Report Post »  
  • JACKTHETOAD
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 2:23am

    Finally, a job for the OWSers. Separation.

    Report Post » JACKTHETOAD  
  • Arc
    Posted on July 5, 2012 at 1:56am

    I fear greatly that the amount of flies discovered would be insufficient to handle ALL the ant brains in DC.

    Report Post » Arc  
  • Verceofreason
    Posted on July 4, 2012 at 11:49pm

    Ant brains. OMG they’re Zombie flies.
    PANIC in the ant farms!

    Report Post » Verceofreason  
  • sawbuck
    Posted on July 4, 2012 at 11:48pm

    Don’t you just love how they converted
    our country to the metric system..

    .4mm = .015748031 inch 1/64″ = .015625 inch

    Paper thickness…aprox .005 inch x 3 = .015 inch

    They say today [ .4mm ] instead of [ 1/64” ]

    Yeah.. its small

    But no wonder kids are unemployed today ….
    They cant measure and cut a two by four .

    Report Post » sawbuck  
    • Stoic one
      Posted on July 5, 2012 at 12:33am

      I doubt they even know what a millimeter nor an inch are..
      Saws of any kind are dirty..
      That kind of work is beneath them.

      do da check come today;….or do da check come tomorrow – is more the mentality of this younger group.

      although there ARE thinking individuals within this group.

      Report Post » Stoic one  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on July 5, 2012 at 12:53am

      @sawbuck

      2 by 4 = 1.75″ by 3.75″.

      Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. : )

      Report Post » The-Monk  
  • Baddoggy
    Posted on July 4, 2012 at 11:11pm

    Look out liberals…something is coming to munch on your iddy bitty brains.

    Report Post » Baddoggy  
  • chips1
    Posted on July 4, 2012 at 10:56pm

    They are headed towards Washington. Run, Obama, RUN!!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • rickc34
    Posted on July 4, 2012 at 10:49pm

    Maybe we could train them to eat the ant sized brains of the left.

    Report Post »  
    • dennisS
      Posted on July 5, 2012 at 9:44am

      Rick, what do you have against these poor little creatures. They have feelings too. I believe our Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Can you even imagine what would happen to one of those poor little guys when he went to munch on a liberal brain and found nothing but a putrid pile of drug infested mush? C’mon, have a heart!

      Report Post »  

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