New study finds insects greatly undercounted

Time -  The generally accepted figure for the number of insect species on the planet is about six million. Or at least that was the number. According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, however, that head count is also likely an undercount, with the actual number of insect species topping out at anywhere from 14 million to 20 million—or more than three times the current estimate. Within that census there are still local collapses: populations of pollinators like bees and monarch butterflies are declining precipitously, and climate change and habitat loss are claiming other insect species, disrupting the food chain, which is built in part on those tiny creatures at the bottom. The tripling of the overall known species count has implications not only for basic entomological research, but for efforts at conservation as a whole.