The world new taxa of Coleoptera in 2020

Abstract

Aims: Coleoptera is the largest group on the land, with extremely rich species diversity and morphological diversity, and plays an important role in terrestrial ecosystems and is closely related to human social production. Regularly summarizing the new taxa of the Coleoptera in the world will help disseminate recent achievements in the field of taxonomy and provide a valuable resource for the beetle diversity, so as to promote the development and protection of Coleoptera resources. Method: In this study, we systematically collected and analyzed the taxonomic literature of Coleoptera published in 2020 from around the world. Results: In 2020, a total of 3,228 new taxa of Coleoptera in the world were published, including 1 new family, 5 new subfamilies, 13 new tribes, 218 new genera, 18 new subgenera, 2,973 new species. In addition, this paper also collected 1,319 new combinations, 610 new synonyms, 49 degraded taxa and 61 raised taxa. The most studied taxa included Staphylinidae, Carabidae, Curculionidae, Cerambycidae, etc. The new species of Coleoptera in 2020 were reported from 118 countries and regions, with most discoveries being concentrated in China, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, etc. These new findings were reported in 995 articles or monographs from 141 journals or publishers. Conclusion: In 2020, there was significant progress in global beetle taxonomy, while the discovery rate of new species is slightly slower than the average rate between 1978 and 2000 and the regional bias is occurred. It is crucial to increase the investment on taxonomy and explore more efficient and accurate methods to access and protect the global biodiversity thoroughly.