Utricularia tenella is a bladderwort native to southern Australia. It is named for its diminuitive size (tenellus = delicate).

The species produces small blooms that are coloured pink. The lower corolla lip is is deeply divided into three lobes. The palate is yellow with a few bulbous ridges. The spur is shorter than the lower corolla lip and rather broad and rounded at the end. The upper corolla lip is small and divided in the middle to form two points. The leaves emerge from a central rosette and the traps arre borne on long appendages also from a central growing point.

U. tenella is distributed in the southern states of Australia. It is often found in seepages, such as those produced on moss gardens or on the sides of walking tracks. The plants grow in winter, flower in spring and die over the dry summer, persisting in the environment as seed.

U. tenella is closely related to U. multifida and U. westonii, with the three species forming the section Polypompholyx. These species are united by their three-lobed lower corolla lips and the way the traps and leaves emerge radially from a central growing point. U. tenella is distinguished by its diminuitive size and deeply divided lobes (U. multifida is larger and U. westonii has shallow lobes).