Commissioned in 1998 by saxophonist David Remnick, "myrmaridae" includes a program that was incorporated after its completion in August 1999. The piece is about a family of microscopic parasitic wasps that are the smallest invertebrates in the world, with a wingspan of only .019 mm. In the piece we meet the protagonist, a young male myrmaridae, and are shown his exciting but all too brief life. He is conceived, goes through the larval stage, hatches, socializes, eats, finds a mate, courts her, mates with her, is eaten by her, and then dies.