World smallest Coleoptera : Baranowskiella ehnstromi

[wollastoni]

I have just heard on a French forum about that other record in Coleoptera : Baranowskiella ehnstromi

This species measures 0,4 milimeters !!!

This is a macro-picture near a human hair for comparison

Must be very fun to spread !!! 

[cabintom]

Wow that's tiny!

[trehopr1]

Wollastoni, what Coleoptera family is this species said to belong to. I can't quite place it. At a former job that I had at a museum I sorted through berlese funnel traps for beetles.I learned to identify many to the family level. All the beetles were sorted out from the samples for possible researchers or for inclusion into the main collection.
I might also add that the smallest known Coleoptera are the feathering beetles (family: Ptilidae). I briefly knew the world authority on the group shortly before he passed away. Another incredibly tiny group of beetles belong to the family Histeridae: genus Acritus. Our Acritus histerids were in fact glued with a tiny bead of clear nail polish TO THE TIP of a 4mm human hair. They were essentially on what we termed "hair points". I learned from a curator(mentor) how he did them. That way his knowledge was not lost.
Acritus had to be prepared in this manner as putting them on any ordinary punched out point would only result in the specimen becoming enveloped by too large a bead of glue. A human hair tip would allow just enough for hold and observation. Anything more would require soaking the specimen off (and possible damage).

[africaone]

Baranowskiella ehnstromi Sörensson, 1997 (Coleoptera: Ptilidae, Nanosellini)

[wollastoni]

Baranowskiella ehnstromi is indeed a Ptiliidae.

You can find it only in the pores of the bracket fungus Phellinus conchatus.

It has been first observed in 1997 in Scandinavia but more recently also in France.

[africaone]

here is a paper on it

www.snl.lu/publications/bulletin/SNL_2014_115_203_209.pdf

it is also found P. punctatus

[trehopr1]

Thankyou africaone and wollastoni for that family determination. The cylindrical shape of that particular genus of Ptiliid is very much un-like the feathewing beetles that I became accustomed to seeing The ones that I gazed upon in my technical work were of the kinds found in the leaf litter and soils niche. So they were mostly flattened and oval in shape (reminiscent of horseshoe crabs). But, since this genus inhabits a unique niche --- living within the layers and pores of bracket fungi it has evolved a form (shape) appropriate for that lifestyle.

[klaas]

May I inform that this species is now found in five regions of Germany, where it wasn't found ever before. Not because the species is spreading it's area, but because of the methods surching for it. it is found on Phellinus conchatus, as wollastoni told. this funghus is growing on Salix caprea and Salix aurita and one Need to take the funghus home to look for the beetle under his Mikroskope. The beetles get activ by warming up the funghus, because of the hot spot of the light of the Mikroskop and turns comming out and hiding again in the lamella of the funghus until it is getting to warm. After doing this twice or three times the heat seem to kill the beetles, so there will be and end, but till this time one usually took a bigger number of beetles.

Best regards
Klaas

[leon]

How does one photograph a specimen that small ?

[deliasfanatic]

Jun 19, 2016 14:37:48 GMT leon said:

How does one photograph a specimen that small ?

Special macro equipment is needed - as you would guess, the smaller the subject, the more difficulty to work with it. Canon makes a unique 1-to-5x macro lens, meaning that it will photograph subjects from 1x to 5x life size. In other words, a 5mm subject will appear on film/sensor between 5mm and 25mm, depending on the lens setting. At the higher end of the scale, it becomes increasingly difficult to get enough light, depth of field, etc. unless special techniques can be used. The lens can't be used for "normal" photography - it's strictly for high-powered macro work.