Resolving biology's dark matter: species richness, spatiotemporal distribution, and community composition of a dark taxon.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Zoology's dark matter comprises hyperdiverse, poorly known taxa that are numerically dominant but largely unstudied, even in temperate regions where charismatic taxa are well understood. Dark taxa are everywhere, but high diversity, abundance, and small size have historically stymied their study. We demonstrate how entomological dark matter can be elucidated using high-throughput DNA barcoding ("megabarcoding"). We reveal the high abundance and diversity of scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae) in Sweden using 31,800 specimens from 37 sites across four seasonal periods. We investigate the number of scuttle fly species in Sweden and the environmental factors driving community changes across time and space.

Results

Swedish scuttle fly diversity is much higher than previ

SUBMITTER: Hartop E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11438253 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature