NewsWhore
09-29-2008, 02:20 PM
Dominican biologist Daniel Perez-Gelabert of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. has compiled "Zootax, Arthropods of Hispaniola, a checklist and bibliography", the first comprehensive listing of insects of the DR and Haiti. The inventory is published as a monograph in an international science journal and covers all known terrestrial and aquatic species of crustaceans, arachnids, myriapods and insects from the island through the end of 2007. The list includes 8,237 valid species of arthropods (6,833 living and 1,404 fossils), the number of living species being over 12 times that of the vertebrates.
Of this grand total most are insects (5,676 extant species (83%) and 1,404 fossil species). A total of 2,521 species (36.9% of the total living) are considered unique or endemic to Hispaniola. Despite the important advances, this fauna is still not well known, actually being the least studied in the Greater Antilles. The Hispaniolan arthropods are estimated to be around 15,000 species, thus many species still remain to be recorded and classified.
In the list, all species are listed within their taxonomic classification by classes, orders, families and genera.
The extensive bibliography complementing the taxonomic information includes over 4,500 titles. Having this list will help the international scientific community to make faster and more efficient advances in the further inventory, study and conservation of this neglected fauna. It should also help in the teaching and research of entomology locally and even in efforts to control agricultural pests.
To receive a free electronic copy (7MB) of this monograph, write to perezd@si.edu
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)
Of this grand total most are insects (5,676 extant species (83%) and 1,404 fossil species). A total of 2,521 species (36.9% of the total living) are considered unique or endemic to Hispaniola. Despite the important advances, this fauna is still not well known, actually being the least studied in the Greater Antilles. The Hispaniolan arthropods are estimated to be around 15,000 species, thus many species still remain to be recorded and classified.
In the list, all species are listed within their taxonomic classification by classes, orders, families and genera.
The extensive bibliography complementing the taxonomic information includes over 4,500 titles. Having this list will help the international scientific community to make faster and more efficient advances in the further inventory, study and conservation of this neglected fauna. It should also help in the teaching and research of entomology locally and even in efforts to control agricultural pests.
To receive a free electronic copy (7MB) of this monograph, write to perezd@si.edu
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)