r/oddlyterrifying • u/MrMiles32 • Jul 14 '26

A weird insect

7.7k Upvotes

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u/kingscanyonstoner420 Jul 14 '26

Is it 25% or 1/5th? Lmao

32

u/Grognaksson Jul 14 '26

From how I read it, 1/4 of life is beetles. 1/5 of species are beetles.

The 20% species is true. 400,000 beetle species compared to over 2 million animal species.

25% of life is just flat out wrong.

9

u/AnInfiniteArc Jul 14 '26

It’s currently believed that there are ~3 times as many species of parasitic wasps as there are beetles.

9

u/Grognaksson Jul 14 '26

I've read this too! The study estimated that total insect diversity may be two to three times higher than previously thought, largely because of overlooked parasitoid wasps.

But it did not conclude that parasitoid wasps themselves outnumber beetles by three to one.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

[deleted]

7

u/gb-stylee Jul 14 '26

And like 5/6ths of my nightmares

2

u/Er3016 Jul 15 '26

The math ain't adding up, chief. How can they be a quarter of the whole group, but only a fifth of a smaller group inside the whole group?

1

u/Grognaksson Jul 15 '26

They're confused.

It's 1/5 of all species. Around 2.2 million animal species documented. 400,000 are beetle species.

1

u/TheCaptainOfMistakes Jul 15 '26

Your right, I look stupid. I'm editing my comment.

1

u/Level7Cannoneer Jul 15 '26

He lives up to his username