因为有一身“断头术”的本领，蚤蝇科动物是蚂蚁世界的克星。这个苍蝇家族的成员能将自己的卵产在一只蚂蚁的体内。幼蝇慢慢孵化出来后，它们就以寄居的蚂蚁的头部为食。最终，使蚂蚁的头部掉落，“寄主”死去。
这种蚤蝇科动物体形非常小，它可能比一粒胡椒还要矮小。仅仅0.4毫米的体形，Euryplatea nanaknihali是有记录的体形最小的苍蝇——比普通家蝇小15倍，比果蝇小5倍。
而这种世界上最小的蚤蝇科动物也具有这种“断头术”。该研究小组在线发表于期刊《美国昆虫学会纪事》（Annals of the Entomological Society of America）的研究报告称，尽管这种蚤蝇科动物的身材短小，它也同样有能力“搬下”蚂蚁的脑袋。Euryplatea nanaknihali并没有因为体形的矮小放弃自己特有的“本领”，而是尽量保持着自己的“优势”一面。（生物谷Bioon.com）
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doi:10.1603/AN12011
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Small Size No Protection for Acrobat Ants: World's Smallest Fly Is a Parasitic Phorid (Diptera: Phoridae)
Brown, Brian V.
A new species of phorid fly, Euryplatea nanaknihali (Diptera: Phoridae), is described from Thailand. This is the first Oriental Region record for this genus; it is otherwise known only from the type species from Africa, where it parasitizes ants of the genus Crematogaster Lund. The new species is probably capable of parasitizing the smallest host Crematogaster (Formicidae) ants in its range. At 0.40 mm in body length, it is the smallest known fly in the world.
