Describing undiscovered insect diversity: an introduction to collected papers describing 150 new taxa

Abstract

The number of species on earth is estimated to be 8.7 million, with 87% of them to be discovered and described (Mora et al. 2011). The total of 8.7 million seems to be an underestimate, because for Animalia alone, over 1.5 million species have been described (Zhang 2011b). The most successful group, the Insecta, accounts for almost two-thirds of all animals.

Arthropod diversity and the future of all‐taxa inventories

“…Success or failure in the global challenge of cataloguing all life on Earth will depend to a large extent on our ability to survey and identify the countless millions of arthropod species that remain undescribed. Despite some of the more obvious taxonomic impediments limiting species description rates (Godfray & Knapp, ; Wheeler et al ., ; Evenhuis, ; Zhang, ), May (, ) has been vocal in suggesting that the key rate‐limiting step in cataloguing biodiversity will ultimately be the craft of collecting specimens in the field. As field ecologists, we naturally have a lot of sympathy with this perspective.…”