''Tinkerbella'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of fairy wasps, containing the single species ''Tinkerbella nana'' from Costa Rica. It is one of the smallest known flying

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chitin, oft ...

and belongs to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Mymaridae The Mymaridae, commonly known as fairyflies or fairy wasps, are a family of chalcidoid wasps found in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world. The family contains around 100 genera with 1400 species. Fairyflies are very tiny insects ...

. The smallest flying

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

known was ''

Megaphragma caribea ''Megaphragma caribea'' is a species of wasp. It has been found acting as an egg parasitoid of ''Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis ''Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis'' is a species of thrips in the family Thripidae. It is most commonly known as the green ...

'', a trichogrammatid wasp 170

micrometre The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer ( American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of ...

s lo

until the discovery of the mymarid ''

Kikiki huna ''Kikiki'' is a genus of fairyfly wasps containing a single species, ''Kikiki huna'', known from Hawaii, Costa Rica, Nagarcoil and Trinidad. At (150 μm), it is the smallest flying insect known . It is a close relative of wasps in the genus '' ...

'', 150 micrometres long.

History

It was identified by a team led by John Huber at the Canadian National Collection of Insects and John Noyes at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

. Noyes collected it during a scientific expedition in the

tropical forests Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fore ...

of Costa Rica. ''Tinkerbella'' specimens have been added to the museum collection of about 1.5 million wasps, which are used by researchers worldwide. The scientific description of ''Tinkerbella nana'' was published in the ''

Journal of Hymenoptera Research The ''Journal of Hymenoptera Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering systematics, taxonomy, and ecology of Hymenoptera. It was established in 1992, and transferred to publishing with Pensoft Publishers in 2011, under an open acce ...

''. The genus was named after the fairy

Tinker Bell Tinker Bell is a fictional character from J. M. Barrie's 1904 play ''Peter Pan'' and its 1911 novelisation ''Peter and Wendy''. She has appeared in a variety of film and television adaptations of the Peter Pan stories, in particular the 1953 an ...

in the 1904 play ''

Peter and Wendy ''Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' or ''Peter and Wendy'', often known simply as ''Peter Pan'', is a work by J. M. Barrie, in the form of a 1904 play and a 1911 novel. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous ...

'' (a.k.a. ''Peter Pan'') by J.M. Barrie, and the specific epithet ''nana'' refers to a dog in the same story, as well as referencing the Greek word for a dwarf. Specimens were collected in Costa Rica by Noyes using a heavy triangular sweep net fitted with a galvanized metal screen with 4 mm mesh over the opening. Sweeping was done by gently dragging the net through vegetation and dumping the net contents at five-minute intervals into 80% ethanol in a sturdy polythene bag to reduce damage to insects in the debris. Sweeping was done for two-hour periods except during rainfall, so different samples could be compared, if necessary. The samples were sorted later in a laboratory using a method that ensured all the smallest Hymenoptera were found.

Appearance

''Tinkerbella nana'' is long, 2.5 times the width of a human hair.

References

Sources

''Guardian'' article on ''Tinkerbella nana''
*http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2013/april/tinkerbella-nana-a-new-species-of-fairyfly121027.html *http://news.discovery.com/animals/insects/tinkerbell-the-fairyfly-is-invisible-to-humans-130424.htm (1) May 1, 2013 *http://www.pensoft.net/news.php?n=242&SESID=cbe29eca1eeb13a450379946f61da5da (3) May 1, 2013 *https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130424103050.htm (4) May 1, 2013 *http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130425/tinkerbella-nana-costa-rican-wasp-gets-disney-treatment (5) May 1, 2013 *http://planetsave.com/2013/04/28/newly-discovered-tinkerbell-fly-is-out-of-sight-literally/ (6) May 1, 2013 *http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/26/scientists-discover-new-genus-and-species-of-fairyfly-tinkerbella-nana/ (7) May 1, 2013 *http://esciencenews.com/sources/physorg/2013/05/01/tinkerbella.nana.a.new.species.fairyfly (8) May 1, 2013 *http://news.softpedia.com/news/Tinkerbella-Nana-Is-the-Latest-Addition-to-the-World-of-Fairyflies-348359.shtml (9) May 1, 2013 *http://www.itechpost.com/articles/8284/20130424/fairy-tiny-new-insect.htm (10) May 1, 2013 *http://topnews.ae/content/215933-ultra-small-insects-discovered-costa-rica (11) May 1, 2013 *https://phys.org/news/2013-05-tinkerbella-nana-species-fairyfly.html (12) May 1, 2013 *https://www.nasw.org/new-microscopic-fairyfly-tinkerbella-nana-feasts-insect-eggs-measures-latinos-post (13) May 1, 2013 *http://frenchtribune.com/teneur/1317643-researchers-discover-extremely-tiny-fairyflies-species (14) May 1, 2013 *http://www.km.ru/science-tech/2013/04/26/issledovaniya-rossiiskikh-i-zarubezhnykh-uchenykh/709805-novyi-vid-parazitic (15) (Russian) May 1, 2013

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q13223540 Insects described in 2013 Monotypic Hymenoptera genera Mymaridae