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Estimates of diversity indicate that nearly two-thirds of all described species of living organisms are insects, i.e. about 950,000 species. Together with insects, the other arthropods (spiders, mites, other arachnids, crustaceans, centipedes, millipedes, etc.) are the dominant life forms on Earth. In the Azores we counted 2,227 species and subspecies belonging to 1,433 genera.
The most diverse orders are: beetles (Coleoptera) with 528 species; flies (Diptera) with 393 species; bugs (Hemiptera) with 306 species; moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) with 149 species; wasps, bees and ants (Hymenoptera) with 131 species; spiders (Araneae) with 121 species; and oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) with 113 species.
The 267 species of endemic arthropods currently known in the Azores is a poor estimate of the estimated real number, which could be around 400.
Containing the 2,227 Arthropoda species and subspecies hitherto recorded from Azores with 837 species illustrated, totalling 2,957 photos (Updated 3rd March 2010).
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