New species in the Old World: Europe as a frontier in biodiversity exploration, a test bed for 21st century taxonomy.

ABSTRACT: The number of described species on the planet is about 1.9 million, with ca. 17,000 new species described annually, mostly from the tropics. However, taxonomy is usually described as a science in crisis, lacking manpower and funding, a politically acknowledged problem known as the Taxonomic Impediment. Using data from the Fauna Europaea database and the Zoological Record, we show that contrary to general belief, developed and heavily-studied parts of the world are important reservoirs of unknown species. In Europe, new species of multicellular terrestrial and freshwater animals are being discovered and named at an unprecedented rate: since the 1950s, more than 770 new species are on average described each year from Europe, which add to the 125,000 terrestrial and freshwater multicellular s

SUBMITTER: Fontaine B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3359328 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature