科普知识学英语 缨小蜂——柄翅卵蜂的最新代表物种.docVIP

Mymaridae, commonly known as fairyflies, are one of about 18 families of?chalcid（小蜂）wasps. Fairyflies occur worldwide, except in Antarctica. They include the worlds smallest known winged insect -- Kikiki huna, the body length of which is only 155 μm, and the smallest known adult insect -- the wingless male of Dicopomorpha echmepterygis which is only 130 μm. Although fairyflies are among the most common chalcid wasps, they are seldomly noticed by humans because of their minute size. Their apparent invisibility,?gracile（纤弱的）?bodies and delicate wings with long fringes resembling the mythical fairies have earned them their common name. All but two known fairyfly species are parasitoids of eggs of other insects. These eggs are commonly laid in concealed locations, such as in plant tissues or in leaf litter or soil and are difficult to find, so for the most part the host insects of fairyflies are unknown. Specimens of the new species Tinkerbella nana were collected at the La Selva Biological Station, a lowland rainforest research and education facility owned and managed by the Organization for Tropical Studies, located in the province of Heredia, Costa Rica. They were collected by sweeping in fairly young (no more than 20 years old) secondary forest mixed with a primary forest. All the specimens collected were below 250 μm in length. The reduced wing surface and relatively long setae of fairyflies and many other minute flying insects likely have an aerodynamic function, perhaps to reduce turbulence and hence drag on a wing flapping at several hundred beats per second. The study of the new species was published in the open access journal Journal of Hymenoptera Research. ? Almost 2000 years ago, Pliny the Elder (ca. 23 A.D.) stated Rerum natura nusquam magis quam in minimis tota est loosely translated as Nature is nowhere as great as in its smallest. Lacking any means of magnification, he could not possibly have seen the intricate structure and beauty of fairyflies or o