Australia (continent) meanings: travel writer Paul Theroux included New Zealand in his definition and others have used it for Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. Another biologist, Richard Dawkins, coined the name "Australinea" in 2004. "Australia-New Guinea" has also been used. With a total land area of , the Australian continent is the smallest, and second-lowest human inhabited (after Antarctica) continent on Earth. The continental shelf connecting the islands, half of which is less than deep, covers some , including the Sahul Shelf and Bass Strait. As the country of Australia is mostly on a single landmass, and comprises most of the continent,
Smallest organisms on the archaeon "Ignicoccus"; it must be in contact with the host organism to survive. Prasinophyte algae of the genus "Ostreococcus" is the smallest free-living eukaryote. The single cell of an "Ostreococcus" measures only 0.8 μm across. Several species of Myxozoa (obligately parasitic cnidarians) never grow larger than 20 µm. One of the smallest species ("Myxobolus shekel") is no more than 8.5 µm when fully grown. The shell of the nut clam "Condylonucula maya" grows only 0.54 mm long. The smallest water snail (of all snails) is "Ammonicera minortalis" in North America, originally described from Cuba. It measures 0.32 to