Continent Continent A continent is one of several very large landmasses of the world. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, they are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Geologically, the continents largely correspond to areas of continental crust that are found on the continental plates. However, some areas of continental crust are regions covered with water not usually included in the list of continents. Zealandia is one such area (see submerged continents below). Islands are frequently grouped with
Smallest organisms "Megaphragma caribea" from Guadeloupe, measuring 170 μm long, is another contender for smallest known insect in the world. Beetles of the tribe Nanosellini are all less than 1 mm long; the smallest confirmed specimen is of "Scydosella musawasensis" at 325 μm long; a few other nanosellines are reportedly smaller, in historical literature, but none of these records have been confirmed using accurate modern tools. These are among the tiniest non-parasitic insects. The western pygmy blue ("Brephidium exilis") is one of the smallest butterflies in the world. The smallest sea cucumber, and also the smallest echinoderm, is "Psammothuria ganapati", a synaptid