science
New estimate puts global insect species at 14 million to 20 million
Researchers analyzed DNA from more than 1.6 million insects collected in Costa Rica and used statistical methods to project worldwide totals. The resulting range is two to three times higher than earlier estimates of roughly 6 million species.
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A new calculation published June 29 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimates that Earth hosts between 14 million and 20 million insect species. The figure doubles or triples most prior counts, which placed the total near 6 million.
Researchers examined DNA from more than 1.6 million insect specimens representing about 54,000 species. The insects were collected over more than 40 years in a protected area of northwestern Costa Rica that includes dry forest, rainforest, and cloud forest.
The team narrowed its focus to more than 11,000 parasitoid wasp specimens across 388 species. Statistical modeling based on that sample projected roughly 2,400 parasitoid wasp species and more than 300,000 total insect species in the study area.
Global projection Scaling the local results produced the worldwide range of 14 million to 20 million species. Only about 1 million insect species have been formally described so far. The higher estimate supplies a baseline for tracking insect populations that face documented declines linked to pesticides, climate change, habitat loss, and light pollution.
"It helps us understand how much we could be losing," an entomologist at Cornell University said. " "It’s humbling how much we don’t know," the same researcher added.
