The total number of insect species in the world is an important if elusive figure. We use a fresh approach to estimate global insect species richness, based on biogeographic patterns of diversity of well or better documented taxa. Estimates generated by various calculations, all variations on a theme, largely serve to substantiate suggestions that insect species are likely to number around 10 million or less.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Colless, D.H. and McAlpine, D.K. (1991) Diptera. In Insects of Australia pp. 717–86. 2nd edition, CSIRO (Division of Entomology) Carlton: Melbourne University Press.
Collins, N.M. and Morris, M.G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. The IUCN Red Data book. Gland and Cambridge: IUCN.
Corbett, G.B. and Hill, J.E. (1991) A World List of Mammalian Species. London: Natural History Museum Publications, Oxford University Press.
Endrõdi, S.(1985) The Dynastinae of the World. Dordrecht: Berlin.
Erwin, T.L. (1982) Tropical forests: their richness in Coleoptera and other arthropod species. Coleopterists' Bull. 36, 74–5.
Frost, D.R. (1985). Amphibian species of the world: a taxonomic and geographical reference. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press and the Association of Systematics Collections.
Gaston, K.J. (1991) The global magnitude of insect species richness. Conserv. Biol. 5, 283–96.
Gaston, K.J. (1992) Regional numbers of insect and plant species. Functional Ecol. 6, 243–7.
Groombridge, B. (ed.) (1992) Global Biodiversity: status of the earth's living resources. London: Chapman and Hall.
Hammond, P.M. (1992) Species inventory. In Global Biodiversity: status of the earth's living resources (B. Groombridge, ed.) pp. 17–39. London: Chapman and Hall.
Hawksworth, D.L. (1991) The fungal dimension of biodiversity: magnitude, significance, and conservation. Mycol. Res. 95, 641–55.
Hodkinson, I.D. and Casson, D. (1991) A lesser predilection for bugs: Hemiptera (Insecta) diversity in tropical rain forests. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 43, 101–9.
Kosztarab, M. and Schaefer, C.W. (eds) (1990) Systematics of the North American Insects and Arachnids: status and needs. Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station Information Series 90–1. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
May, R.M. (1988) How many species are there on earth? Science 241, 1441–9.
May, R.M. (1990) How many species? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 330, 293–304.
May, R.M. (1992) Past efforts and future prospects towards understanding how many species there are, In Biodiversity and Global Change (O.T. Solbrig, H.M. van Emden and P.G.W.J. van Oordt, eds) pp. 71–81. IUBS Monograph 8.
Monteith, G. (1990) Rainforest insects: biodiversity, bioguesstimation, or just hand-waving? Myrmecia 26, 93–5.
Pearson, D.L. and Cassola, F. (1992) World-wide species richness patterns of tiger beetles (Cicindelidae). Indicator taxon for biodiversity and conservation studies. Conserv. Biol. 6, 376–91.
Sibley, C.G. and Monroe, B.L. (1990) Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press.
Stork, N.E. (1993) How many species are there? Biodiv. Conserv. 2, 215–32.
Stork, N.E. and Gaston, K.J. (1990) Counting species one by one. New Scientist 1729, 43–7.
Taylor, R.W. (1983) Descriptive taxonomy: past, present and future. In Australian systematic entomology: a bicentenary perspective (E. Highley and R.W. Taylor, eds) pp. 93–134. Melbourne, Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
Thomas, C.D. (1990) Fewer species. Nature 347, 237.
Tsuda, S. (1984) A Distributional List of World Odonata. Osaka.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gaston, K.J., Hudson, E. Regional patterns of diversity and estimates of global insect species richness. Biodivers Conserv 3, 493–500 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115155
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115155