A lot of people don't like bugs… So this story is not for you! Because it seems that we may have way underestimated the number of bugs that are around us. 

But let's start off with a bit of trivia: What branch on the tree of life has at least 14 million unique living members and can be found on every continent? According to research out today, the answer is the tiny but mighty insect.

An international team of researchers conducted an exhaustive genetic survey of insects in Costa Rica to come up with the figure. At minimum, they estimate, there are likely somewhere between 14 and 20 million insect species in the world. These numbers are well above most current estimates and suggest scientists need to do a much better job at cataloging the vast diversity of insects that roam the Earth, the researchers say.

The insect census

As you might imagine, it’s no easy task trying to figure out how many distinct species of insect there are in the world. It’s not exactly like you can get every bug to line up for a count, and many species in the same broad insect group can look remarkably similar to each other on a surface level.

Scientists have certainly tried, though, with the most recent estimates hovering around 6 million or so. Some studies have calculated these estimates by tallying up the known number of species from a specific group of insects in a region, then trying to gauge how many unknown species are likely to live in that same region. From that known to unknown ratio, scientists can (hopefully) extrapolate a rough sketch of total global insect species.

So the bottom line is that if you are creeped out by insects, you'll have a hard time sleeping at night with the knowledge that there may be twice as many on the planet as we initially thought!