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According to the University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web, the world's smallest mammal (which also happens to be a flying mammal) is the bumblebee bat. About the size of a bumblebee, this native of Thailand weighs about as much as a penny. Small, yes. The smallest? Nope. Since birds are natural fliers, we thought we'd give them a shot at the title. Hummer Hotel crowns Cuba's bee hummingbird as the tiniest bird. These miniature avians are only about 2 inches long and weigh less than an ounce. Apparently, they're the smallest warm-blooded
animal on the planet. Smallest flier, though? Not quite. Next up: bugs. A Yahoo! search on "animal records" led us to the University of Florida Book of Insect Records. There, among the fastest fliers, smallest-egg layers, and least discriminating blood suckers, was the winner for "smallest adult." The parasitic wasp known as Dicopomorpha echmepterygis measures 139 µm, or a little over a tenth of a millimeter. Males of the species are blind and wingless, but females are capable of flight. Looks like we've got a winner!
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