How many insects are there on Earth?
Whether you’re talking about a swarm of bees buzzing about, a cluster of butterflies sucking down nectar or a nest of cockroaches hidden in a corner of your house, insects are plentiful. Really plentiful. Scientifically speaking, the term “insect” denotes a member of the class Insecta. For brevity’s sake, if you have a head, a thorax, an abdomen, three sets of legs protruding from your body and often a pair or two of wings, perhaps for making a quick getaway, then you’re most likely an insect. So how many are there? It seems like an impossible question for good reason: We don’t even know how many different insect species there are, which makes it difficult to perform an all-inclusive worldwide insect census, according to David Hogg, an entomology professor at University of Wisconsin-Madis
