'''Dicopomorpha echmepterygis''' is a wasp in the family
Mymaridae. The males of this species are the smallest of all known
insects. They are blind and wingless and may be no more than 0.139 mm in length (smaller than a single-celled
paramecium). Obviously, the eggs and larvae of this wasp are considerably smaller than the adult.
This species from
Illinois is an
idiobiont parasitoid of the eggs of a
lepidopsocid barklouse, ''
Echmepteryx hageni''. The adult males mate with their sisters inside the host egg, and die without ever leaving the egg; similar life histories can be found in the wasp family
Trichogrammatidae, also in the superfamily
Chalcidoidea.
Reference
Mockford, E.L. (1997) A new species of ''Dicopomorpha'' (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) with diminutive, apterous males. ''Ann. Ent. Soc. America'' '90': 115-120.