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Globally, averages of these predictions estimate there are around 1.5 million beetle species and 5.5 million insect species, with around 1 million insect species currently found and described. [3] Between 950,000–1,000,000 of all described animal species are considered insects, so over 50% of all described eukaryotes (1.8 million species) are ...
Recent figures indicate that there are more than 1.4 billion insects for each human on the planet, [27] or roughly 10 19 (10 quintillion) individual living insects on the earth at any given time. [28] An article in The New York Times claimed that the world holds 300 pounds of insects for every pound of humans. [28]
A May 2016 study based on scaling laws estimated that 1 trillion species (overwhelmingly microbes) are on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described, [28] [29] though this has been controversial and a 2019 study of varied environmental samples of 16S ribosomal RNA estimated that there exist 0.8-1.6 million species of ...
Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described, of which around 1.05 million are insects, over 85,000 are molluscs, and around 65,000 are vertebrates. It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. Animal body lengths range from 8.5 μm (0.00033 in) to 33.6 m (110 ft).
Additionally 1702 insect species (28% of those evaluated) are listed as data deficient, meaning there is insufficient information for a full assessment of conservation status. As these species typically have small distributions and/or populations, they are intrinsically likely to be threatened, according to the IUCN. [ 2 ]
They were once thought to be extinct but were rediscovered in 2001.
As insects get larger, gas exchange via spiracles becomes less efficient, and thus the heaviest insect currently weighs less than 100 g. However, with increased atmospheric oxygen levels, as were present in the late Paleozoic , larger insects were possible, such as dragonflies with wingspans of more than two feet (60 cm). [ 59 ]
[2] [3] Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 10 million to 14 million, [4] with about 1.2 million or 14% documented, the rest not yet described. [5] However, a 2016 report estimates an additional 1 trillion microbial species, with only 0.001% described.