słonie: Beetle

Evidence: 41 • authority: 90

How many species of arthropods? Erwin's estimate revised. Erwin's much debated estimate of 30 million species of arthropods is revised. The original estimate is based on the evaluation of host specificity of guilds in beetle samples, and subsequent hierarchical ratio extrapolations. The growing number of studies including mass sampling of arthropods have provided several data sets suitable for obtaining an empirical basis of this estimate. The structure in this modified version is somewhat changed compared to the original estimate in order to make each hierarchical step more easily testable. Plant species are separated into different growth forms, and host specificity measures are based onl…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 90

How Many Species of Insects and Other Terrestrial Arthropods Are There on Earth?. In the last decade, new methods of estimating global species richness have been developed and existing ones improved through the use of more appropriate statistical tools and new data. Taking the mean of most of these new estimates indicates that globally there are approximately 1.5 million, 5.5 million, and 7 million species of beetles, insects, and terrestrial arthropods, respectively. Previous estimates of 30 million species or more based on the host specificity of insects to plants now seem extremely unlikely. With 1 million insect species named, this suggests that 80% remain to be discovered and that a gr…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 72

Arthropods, including insects and spiders, make use of smooth adhesive pads as well as hairy pads for climbing and locomotion along non-horizontal surfaces. Both types of pads in insects make use of liquid secretions and are considered 'wet'. Dry adhesive mechanisms primarily rely on Van der Waals' forces and are also used by organisms other than insects. The fluid provides capillary and viscous adhesion and appears to be present in all insect adhesive pads. Little is known about the chemical properties of the adhesive fluids and the ultrastructure of the fluid-producing cells is currently not extensively studied. Additionally, both hairy and smooth types of adhesion have evolved separately…

Evidence: 35 • authority: 92

A multiverse of trophic networks and coevolutionary trajectories among holoparasitic Orobanchaceae and their animal associates: a global perspective.. Holoparasitism, in achlorophyllous, fully heterotrophic plants, is one of the most peculiar symbioses in the plant world. In particular, holoparasites from Orobanchaceae, the largest parasitic plant family, have evolved unique visual and olfactory signals in the plant kingdom, and thus play a key role in the evolution of animal-plant adaptations. Holoparasitism offers excellent case studies of the effects of a specialised interaction on multiple aspects of plant ecology and evolution, including pollination, herbivory, and speciation. In this…

Evidence: 34 • authority: 72

The largest extant animal, as well as the largest animal to ever exist, is the blue whale. The maximum recorded weight was 190 tonnes for a specimen measuring 27.6 metres (91 ft), whereas longer ones, up to 33.6 metres (110 ft), have been recorded but not weighed. It is estimated that this individual could have a mass of 250 tonnes or more. The longest non-colonial animal is the lion's mane jellyfish (120 ft, 36.6 m). While controversial, estimates for the weight of the sauropod Bruhathkayosaurus suggest it was around 110–170 tons, with the highest estimate being 240 tons, if scaled with Patagotitan, although actual fossil remains no longer exist, and that estimation is based on described d…

Evidence: 29 • authority: 72

Global biodiversity is the measure of biodiversity on Earth and is defined as the total variability of life forms. More than 99 percent of all species that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 2 million to 1 trillion, but most estimates are around 11 million species or fewer. About 1.74 million species were databased as of 2018, and over 80 percent have not yet been described. The total amount of DNA base pairs on Earth, as a possible approximation of global biodiversity, is estimated at 5.0 × 1037, and weighs 50 billion tonnes. In comparison, the total mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC (…

Evidence: 29 • authority: 92

Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Three Rhinoceros Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) and Phylogenetic Implications.. The subfamily Dynastinae, commonly known as rhinoceros beetles, represents one of the most morphologically striking lineages within the Scarabaeidae. This distinctiveness arises from the elaborate horns present on the head and pronotum of many species, particularly in males. Despite their significant ecological and economic importance, the phylogenetic relationships within this subfamily remain poorly understood, and available mitochondrial genomic data are remarkably scarce, hindering comprehensive phylogenomic analyses. In this study, we sequenced the complete…

Evidence: 29 • authority: 92

Time-dependent effects of beavers on terrestrial invertebrate biomass and diversity.. Beaver ( Castor spp.) activity can alter habitat structure and hydrology, yet their influence on terrestrial invertebrates remains understudied. We examined the effects of beaver activity on ground-dwelling terrestrial invertebrate biomass and diversity across mid-summer to early autumn and assessed habitat differences between sites with and without beaver activity by analyzing environmental variables related to habitat heterogeneity. We found significant interactions between beaver activity and research dates, suggesting that beaver effects are dynamic and seasonally dependent. Specific invertebrate order…

Evidence: 29 • authority: 72

This is a list of herbivorous animals, organized in a roughly taxonomic manner. In general, entries consist of animal species known with good certainty to be overwhelmingly herbivorous, as well as genera and families which contain a preponderance of such species. Herbivorous animals are heterotrophs, meaning that they consume other organisms for sustenance. The organisms which herbivores consume are primary producers, predominantly plants (including algae). Herbivores which consume land plants may eat any or all of the fruit, leaves, sap, nectar, pollen, flowers, bark, cambium, underground storage organs like roots, tubers, and rhizomes, nuts, seeds, shoots, and other parts of plants; they…

Evidence: 24 • authority: 92

Monitoring arthropods under the scope of LIFE-SNAILS project: II - Santa Maria Island data with implementation of the Index of Biotic Integrity.. Background The data presented here constitute an important component of the LIFE SNAILS project (Support and Naturalisation in Areas of Importance for Land Snails) which aims to protect three threatened endemic mollusc species from Santa Maria Island: two land snails ( Oxychilus agostinhoi Martins 1981 and Leptaxis minor Backhuys, 1975) and a semi-slug, Azorivitrina angulosa (Morelet, 1860). Although, arthropods are not direct targets of the project, their communities can provide useful indicators of overall habitat quality. A previous survey of m…

Evidence: 24 • authority: 90

Mixed‐species aggregations in arthropods. This review offers the first synthesis of the research on mixed-species groupings of arthropods and highlights the behavioral and evolutionary questions raised by such behavior. Mixed-species groups are commonly found in mammals and birds. Such groups are also observed in a large range of arthropod taxa independent of their level of sociality. Several examples are presented to highlight the mechanisms underlying such groupings, particularly the evidence for phylogenetic proximity between members that promotes cross-species recognition. The advantages offered by such aggregates are described and discussed. These advantages can be attributed to the in…

Evidence: 24 • authority: 90

Evolutionary history of Coleoptera revealed by extensive sampling of genes and species. Beetles (Coleoptera) are the most diverse and species-rich group of insects, and a robust, time-calibrated phylogeny is fundamental to understanding macroevolutionary processes that underlie their diversity. Here we infer the phylogeny and divergence times of all major lineages of Coleoptera by analyzing 95 protein-coding genes in 373 beetle species, including ~67% of the currently recognized families. The subordinal relationships are strongly supported as Polyphaga (Adephaga (Archostemata, Myxophaga)). The series and superfamilies of Polyphaga are mostly monophyletic. The species-poor Nosodendridae is r…