ArticleBMC ecology2018
Quantifying the unquantifiable: why Hymenoptera, not Coleoptera, is the most speciose animal order.
Article in BMC ecology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 111 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
111 citing papers in PubMed, 316 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Cuticular Barcoding-A Novel Method for Host Identification From Adult Parasitoid Wasps.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- An analysis of Wolbachia incidence and genetics in non-ant Hymenoptera diversity.Insect molecular biology · 2026Article
- Genomics Reveal Population Crash and Range Contraction in Elusive FijianEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- From two putative inquilines to one definitive parasitoid: clarifying feeding ecology and species limits in NearcticAnnals of the Entomological Society of America · 2026Article
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- Diversity and Distribution Patterns of Insects in Nigeria: A GBIF-Based Appraisal.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Constructing a lower-bound estimate of the global number of insect species on a hyperdiverse empirical foundation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Genomics and reproductive biology of Leptopilina malgretoutensis (sp. nov.): an asexual parasitoid of Caribbean Drosophila.Genetics · 2026Article
- Whole-genome assembly and annotation of the bumblebee wax moth, Aphomia sociella.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Article
- A Set of Novel Venom Proteins Enables Parasitoid Wasps to Exploit Older Hosts and Coexist with Competitors.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Chromosomes ofComparative cytogenetics · 2026Article
- Progress in the molecular phylogeny of Cotesia acuminata and C. melitaearum cryptic species complexes.PloS one · 2026Article
- Contributions to theBiodiversity data journal · 2026Article
- Lipid Metabolism in Parasitoids and Parasitized Hosts.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Hymenoptera of Galápagos: diversity and distribution of one of the most species-rich insect orders in the archipelago.ZooKeys · 2026Article
- Four nudivirus core genes present in the genome ofJournal of virology · 2025Article
- Evolutionary Tempo, Supertaxa, and Living Fossils.Systematic biology · 2025Article
- Biodiversity conservation depends on the expansion of taxonomy and systematics research.Journal of mammalogy · 2025Article
- Why just fly?Fly · 2025Review
51 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWe challenge the oft-repeated claim that the beetles (Coleoptera) are the most species-rich order of animals. Instead, we assert that another order of insects, the Hymenoptera, is more speciose, due in large part to the massively diverse but relatively poorly known parasitoid wasps. The idea that the beetles have more species than other orders is primarily based on their respective collection histories and the relative availability of taxonomic resources, which both disfavor parasitoid wasps. Though it is unreasonable to directly compare numbers of described species in each order, the ecology of parasitic wasps-specifically, their intimate interactions with their hosts-allows for estimation of relative richness.
resultsWe present a simple logical model that shows how the specialization of many parasitic wasps on their hosts suggests few scenarios in which there would be more beetle species than parasitic wasp species. We couple this model with an accounting of what we call the "genus-specific parasitoid-host ratio" from four well-studied genera of insect hosts, a metric by which to generate extremely conservative estimates of the average number of parasitic wasp species attacking a given beetle or other insect host species.
conclusionsSynthesis of our model with data from real host systems suggests that the Hymenoptera may have 2.5-3.2× more species than the Coleoptera. While there are more described species of beetles than all other animals, the Hymenoptera are almost certainly the larger order.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.