Australia (continent) Australia (continent) The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts by the names Sahul, Australinea or Meganesia to distinguish it from the country of Australia, consists of the land masses which sit on Australia's continental shelf. This includes mainland Australia, Tasmania, and the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua New Guinea and two Indonesian provinces). Situated in the geographical region of Oceania, it is the smallest of the seven traditional continents in the English conception. The continent lies on a continental shelf overlain by shallow seas which divide it into several landmasses—the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait between mainland
Smallest organisms 0.46 mm. The smallest land snail is "Acmella nana". Discovered in Borneo, Malaysia, and described in November 2015, it measures only 0.7 mm. The previous record was that of "Angustopila dominikae" from China, which was reported in September 2015. This snail measures 0.86 mm. The smallest crustacean, and indeed the smallest arthropod, is the tantulocarid "Stygotantulus stocki", at a length of only . Eriophyid mites measure 125 to 250 μm in length. Adult males of the parasitic wasp "Dicopomorpha echmepterygis" can be as small as 139 μm long, smaller than some species of protozoa (single-cell creatures); females are 40% larger.