Scydosella

Scydosella
Habitus and diagnostic characters of Scydosella musawasensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Subclass:
Pterygota
Order:
Coleoptera
Family:
Ptiliidae
Genus:
Scydosella

Hall, 1999
Type species
Scydosella musawasensis
Hall, 1999

Scydosella is a genus of beetles that consists of only one species Scydosella musawasensis. The species is regarded as the smallest free-living insect, as well as the smallest beetle.[1] They are among featherwing beetles, named because of their feather-like spiny wings. It was first discovered in Nicaragua, and described in 1999 by Wesley Eugene Hall of the University of Nebraska State Museum.[2] The initial discovery consisted of very few specimens, and exact measurements were not conclusive. Because of their tiny size, they were difficult to observe under microscope after preservation. The generally accepted size was 0.300 mm in length.[3] On 8 February 2015, Alexey Polilov of the Lomonosov Moscow State University collected 85 specimens in Chicaque National Park, Colombia. They were discovered on a layer of fungus on which they feed. From these specimens exact measurements could be made, and was found that the smallest individual is only 0.325 mm long.[4] The largest individual is 0.352 mm long, and the average length of all the specimens is 0.338 mm. The body is elongated and oval in shape, yellowish-brown in colour, and its antennae are split into 10 segments.[5]

  1. ^ Polilov, Alexey (8 October 2015). "How small is the smallest? New record and remeasuring of Scydosella musawasensis Hall, 1999 (Coleoptera, Ptiliidae), the smallest known free-living insect". ZooKeys (526): 61–64. Bibcode:2015ZooK..526...61P. doi:10.3897/zookeys.526.6531. PMC 4607844. PMID 26487824.
  2. ^ Hall, W. E. (1999). "Generic revision of the tribe Nanosellini (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae: Ptiliinae)". Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 125 (1/2): 39–126. JSTOR 25078673.
  3. ^ Polilov, A. A. (2011). "Anatomy of the smallest coleoptera, featherwing beetles of the tribe nanosellini (Coleoptera, Ptiliidae), and limits of insect miniaturization". Entomological Review. 88 (1): 26–33. doi:10.1134/S0013873808010041. S2CID 23604779.
  4. ^ Pensoft Publishers (8 October 2015). "How small is the smallest? New record of the tiniest free-living insect provides precision". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  5. ^ "Scydosella musawasensis: World's Tiniest Beetle Lives in Colombia". Sci-News. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.