It can be startling to look at a world population counter. There are eight billion (and counting — fast) humans on Earth. That’s a lot. And humans, of course, have an enormous impact. However, we are far from the most abundant animal on the planet. In fact, mammals are at the bottom of the list, with only about 5,500 or so named species.
On the other hand, scientists have identified about a million species of insects, and there are many insects that haven’t yet been identified, explains Scott Hoffman Black, entomologist and executive director of the Xerces Society, an organization dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates. Experts estimate that anywhere from a conservative four million to possibly as many as seven million species are yet to be identified.
So yes, the most abundant land animal is definitely an insect. But which one?
According to an oft-told anecdote, the British evolutionary ...
