Smallest-insects
Guides
Ptiliidae
Feather-winged Beetles, Featherwing Beetles
Ptiliidae is a family of extremely small beetles containing the smallest known free-living, non-parasitoid insects. Members range from 0.3 to 4.0 mm in length, with the smallest species, Scydosella musawasensis, measuring only 0.325 mm. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution and is characterized by distinctive narrow, feathery hindwings that give the group its common name. Their minute size imposes unusual biological constraints, including the production of very large eggs relative to adult body size.