Fauna Europaea - Orthopteroid orders

Area of Science:

• Zoology
• Entomology
• Biodiversity Informatics

Background:

• Fauna Europaea is a public web service indexing scientific names, synonyms, and geographical distributions for European terrestrial and freshwater animals.
• The project encompasses over 230,000 taxonomic names, exceeding initial projections and representing a significant collaborative effort by European specialists.
• It serves as a standard reference for various sectors including science, government, industry, nature conservation, and education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the taxonomic and distributional data for the "Orthopteroid orders" as a specific group within the Fauna Europaea database.
• To detail the species richness and taxonomic composition of European Orthopteroid insects.

Main Methods:

• Compilation of taxonomic and distributional data by over 400 contributing specialists across Europe.
• Inclusion of scientific names, synonyms, and geographical information at the country and major island level.
• Focus on 58 major taxonomic groups, with this paper detailing the "Orthopteroid orders".

Main Results:

• The Fauna Europaea database includes 130,000 accepted species and 14,000 accepted subspecies.
• The "Orthopteroid orders" group comprises 35 families and 1,371 species.
• This group includes insect orders such as Embiodea, Dermaptera, Phasmatodea, Orthoptera, and Dictyoptera.

Conclusions:

• Fauna Europaea provides an unparalleled, standardized reference for European fauna.
• The detailed data on Orthopteroid orders contributes significantly to the understanding of European insect biodiversity.
• The web service is crucial for informed decision-making in conservation, research, and education.