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Size of Life

(neal.fun)
2530 points eatonphil | 2 comments | 10 Dec 25 16:02 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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jphoward ◴[10 Dec 25 16:33 UTC] No.46219833[source]▶
It seems to be like some of the scales slightly off?

If you are looking at the ladybird (ladybug) with the amoeba to the left, the amoeba isn't an order of the magnitude smaller - it would actually be visible by the human eye (bigger than a grain of sand)? Indeed, the amoeba seems the same size as the ladybird's foot?

Similarly, this makes the bumblebee appear smaller than a human finger (the in the adjacent picture), which isn't the case?

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elicash ◴[10 Dec 25 16:59 UTC] No.46220196[source]▶
I came to the comments to express surprise that amoebas were so large. It appears they vary wildly in size (as small as 2.3 micrometers... but up to 20 cm, or nearly 8 inches).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoeba#Size_range

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1. earlyriser ◴[10 Dec 25 17:56 UTC] No.46221002[source]▶
On the other side, wasps could be so tiny. like you could put thousands of them inside an amoeba volume.

"Megaphragma mymaripenne is a microscopically sized wasp. At 200 μm in length, it is the third-smallest extant insect, comparable in size to single-celled organisms. It has a highly reduced nervous system, containing only 7400 neurons, several orders of magnitude fewer than in larger insects."

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2. albedoa ◴[10 Dec 25 21:12 UTC] No.46223931[source]▶
The males of dicopomorpha echmepterygis are even smaller, with wide sexual dimorphism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicopomorpha_echmepterygis

I never knew about these either.