Fairy-wasp
Guides
Mymaridae
Fairy Wasps, Fairyflies
Mymaridae, commonly known as fairy wasps or fairyflies, is a family of microscopic chalcidoid wasps containing approximately 100 genera and 1,400 described species distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical regions. Members are among the smallest known insects, with body lengths ranging from 0.2 to 1.5 mm; the smallest species, Dicopomorpha echmepterygis, measures only 0.139 mm and is the smallest known insect. All known species are solitary, idiobiont endoparasitoids of insect eggs, with hosts primarily in Hemiptera (especially leafhoppers, planthoppers, and true bugs), Coleoptera, and Psocodea. The family is economically significant as biological control agents for agricultural pests, particularly for leafhoppers that vector plant diseases.