[Taxacom] Zootaxa Special Issue: Animal biodiversity

[Stephen Thorpe]

it is interesting to compare the figures from the Zootaxa special issue with those of the recent paper by Costello et al.:
?
Costello et al. [quote]predict that there may be 1.8 to 2.0 million species on Earth[unquote]
?
Zhang (2011) claims [quote]For the kingdom Animalia, 1,552,319 species have been described in 40 phyla in a new evolutionary classification[unquote]
?
so Zhang claims 1.5 million *described* species, just in *Animalia*, cf. Costello et al. who claim 1.8-2 million *actual* species in *all kingdoms* (technically, Costello excludes fossils, while Zhang includes them, but Zhang couldn't get very good info on fossil species, so it makes not much difference)
?
I know who I believe ... though even Zhang's figures are still?an underestimate (in Carabidae, for example, there appears to be nearly 1/3 more described extant?genera than claimed in the Zootaxa special issue), and many important groups weren't given a detailed treatment ...
?
Stephen


________________________________
From: "Tony.Rees at csiro.au" <Tony.Rees at csiro.au>
To: Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
Sent: Saturday, 24 December 2011 8:16 PM
Subject: [Taxacom] Zootaxa Special Issue: Animal biodiversity

Dear Taxacomers,

Just published in time for the end of 2011:

Zootaxa Special Issue: Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness - Edited by Zhi-Qiang Zhang 

http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/list/2011/3148.html

Many useful overview papers therein - and all Open Access thanks to Zootaxa. (Congratulations for that).

Happy reading for the holiday season,

Best -

Tony Rees - Hobart


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