The Tingidae are a family of very small (0.08–0.39 in) insects in the order Hemiptera that are commonly referred to as lace bugs. This group is distributed worldwide with about 2,000 described species.
Because this post has exploded recently, and I’m seeing lots of questions/surprise in the tags, some info on Guinea Pigs:
Yes, they are born eyes open and fully furred and capable of running which is very much unlike the rodents most people are used to. These babies were literally born the night before, so they’re a little over 15 hours old in these photos.
This is in part due to their unusually long gestation period (~60 to 70 days as compared to about 20-23 days for a mouse or rat.)
They can fully wean just after 2 or 3 weeks.
When they’re little like this and they become excited or playful, they will popcorn around. I’m sure you can all imagine what that looks like, and how ridiculously cute these things are when doing it.
While these guys are about 90% head, almost the entire remainder is legs. They are very disproportionate babies. When you see them run you begin to wonder just where exactly their body is as there’s nothing but head and startlingly long legs.
The smallest mammal that ever lived could be sitting right on your shoulder, and you’d hardly know it. Batodonoides vanhouteni (model pictured) lived about 50 million years ago in what is now Wyoming, and was so small that it could climb up a pencil. It also weighed as little as a dollar bill! Several slightly larger species of these mini-mammals lived between 55 and 42 million years ago, but they are now all extinct. Its closest living relatives are modern-day shrews and moles. Photo: randychiu
BettSplendens Tumblr Evac 