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Related articles in Google Scholar. The true figure of living species of insects can only be estimated from present and past studies. Most authorities agree that there are more insect species that have not been described named by science than there are insect species that have been previously named. Conservative estimates suggest that this figure is 2 million, but estimates extend to 30 million. In the last decade, much attention has been given to the entomofauna that exists in the canopies of tropical forests of the world.
From studies conducted by Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Entomology in Latin American forest canopies, the number of living species of insects has been estimated to be 30 million. Insects also probably have the largest biomass of the terrestrial animals. At any time, it is estimated that there are some 10 quintillion 10,,,,,, individual insects alive. In the United States, the number of described species is approximately 91, The undescribed species of insects in the United States, however, is estimated at some 73, The largest numbers of described species in the U.
Several enlightening studies have been conducted involving the numbers of individual insects in a given area. In North Carolina, soil samples to a depth of 5 inches yielded a calculation that there were approximately million animals per acre, of which 90 million were mites, 28 million were springtails, and 4. A similar study in Pennsylvania yielded figures of million animals per acre, with million mites, million springtails, and 11 million other arthropods.
Even specific insect species have been found to be quite numerous, with calculations of from 3 to 25 million per acre for wireworms larvae of click beetles. Certain social insects have large numbers in their nests. An ant nest in Jamaica was calculated to include , individuals. A South American termite nest was found to have 3 million individuals.
Locust swarms are said to hold up to one billion individuals. These great numbers of insect species and individuals were created by a number of factors including their long geological history, the capability of flight, their small size that allows survival in many various habitats, their ability to store sperm for delayed fertilization, and their general adaptive abilities to the environment.
Insects have remarkable fertility and reproductive abilities, which have usually led to the vast numbers of individuals in nature. East African termite queens have been recorded to lay an egg every two seconds, amounting to 43, eggs each day.
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