#dothideomycetes

[o-craven-canto]

Top 10 instances of each taxonomic rank by number of named species

Data from Catalogue of Life (yes, I'm aware that taxonomic rank is largely arbitrary and that species boundary are fuzzy, especially outside of Eukaryotes; taxa within "quotes" are paraphyletic groups whose descendance encompasses others, e.g. "Reptilia" also contains the ancestry of Aves)

Largest Domains:

Eukarya (organisms with cell nuclei): 2.1 million species

Bacteria: 10,000 [currently named!] species

Archaea: 380 species

Largest Kingdoms:

Animalia or Metazoa (animals): 1.5 million species

Archaeplastida (green plants & kin): 380,000 species

Fungi (fungi): 160,000 species

"Protista" (all Eukaryotes that are not animals, plants, or fungi; Catalogue of Life splits from them the old "Chromista", but now that's not supported by morphology nor by phylogeny): 65,000 species

Largest Phyla:

Arthropoda (insects, crustaceans, spiders, &c): 1.2 million species

Angiospermae (plants with flowers): 350,000 species

Mollusca (clams, snails, slugs, and squids): 130,000 species

Ascomycota (various groups of fungi): 98,000 species

Chordata (vertebrates, lancelets, and sea squirts): 73,000 species

Basidiomycota (another group of fungi including most mushrooms): 53,000 species

Foraminifera (protists with calcareous shells): 50,000 species [this might count a great deal of extinct species]

Platyhelminthes (tapeworms & other flatworms): 23,000 species

Bryozoa (little colonial invertebrates): 21,000 species

Annelida (earthworms, leeches, & other segmented worms): 18,000 species

Largest Classes:

Insecta (insects): 970,000 species

"Magnoliopsida" (most flower plants): 260,000 species

Gastropoda (slugs & snails): 97,000 species

Arachnida (spiders, scorpions, and mites): 93,000 species

Liliopsida (a group of flower plants including grasses): 81,000 species

Malacostraca (crabs, shrimps, and some other crustaceans): 46,000 species

Agaricomycetes (mushrooms including agarics): 41,000 species

Dothideomycetes (another group of fungi): 32,000 species

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish): 31,000 species

Bivalvia (clams, scallops, oysters, &c): 22,000 species

[Mammalia (mammals): 6000 species]

Largest Orders:

Coleoptera (beetles): 330,000 species

Diptera (flies & mosquitoes): 170,000 species

Lepidoptera (moths & butterflies): 160,000 species

Hymenoptera (ants, wasps, & bees): 120,000 species

Hemiptera (aphids, cicadas, & bedbugs): 100,000 species

Araneae (spiders): 50,000 species

Asparagales (orchids, onions, & agaves): 41,000 species

Asterales (daisies, dandelions, & sunflowers): 39,000 species

Orthoptera (crickets and grasshoppers): 30,000 species

Lamiales (mint, olives, and many herbs): 28,000 species

[Primates (lemurs, monkeys, & apes): 530 species]

Largest Families:

Curculionidae (weevils): 74,000 species

Staphylinidae (rove beetles): 67,000 species

Carabidae (ground beetles): 41,000 species

Cerambycidae (longhorn beetles): 36,000 species

Scarabaeidae (scarab beetles): 36,000 species

Asteraceae (most Asterales): 36,000 species

Orchidaceae (orchids): 31,000 species

Ichneumonidae (parasitoid wasps): 24,000 species

Fabaceae (beans): 24,000 species

Erebidae (a family of moths): 23,000 species

[Hominidae (great apes including humans): 8 species]

#taxonomy #tree of life #numbers

[microcosmicobservations]

The last two chapters of my dissertation are on the lichen microbiome, specifically the non-mycobiont fungal microbiome. Did you know that many (most? all?) lichens have other fungi asymptomatically living or resting inside of them? They're mostly in the classes Sordariomycetes and Dothideomycetes, and include plant pathogens, molds, and wood decay fungi.

#lichen #science