Global homeostatic forces shape the composition of a hyperdiverse tropical insect fauna
- 1Swedish Museum of Natural History
Abstract
Despite comprising the bulk of terrestrial biodiversity, we know surprisingly little about insect faunas, particularly in the tropics. Here, we characterize the insect fauna of Madagascar, a global biodiversity hotspot, based on extensive DNA metabarcoding of Malaise trap and leaf litter samples. We estimate that the fauna comprises at least 250,000 species, only 5% of which are currently recorded. The ecological and taxonomic composition is surprisingly similar to that of temperate forests. We show that this is likely caused by global homeostatic forces shaping net diversification rates after colonization of Madagascar rather than by the composition of colonizing lineages. Features differing from temperate forests include the dearth of parasitoids and richness of beetles. Understanding the forces shaping these patterns is key in sustainable management of tropical insect faunas.
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BibTeX
@misc{ronquist2026global,
title = {{Global homeostatic forces shape the composition of a hyperdiverse tropical insect fauna}},
author = {F. Ronquist and E. Iwaszkiewicz-Eggebrecht and L. J. A. van Dijk and R. Goodsell and B. C. Bellini and G. Broad and N. N. Godeiro and E. Granqvist and T. Haeggstroem and J. Heraty and S. Klopfstein and G. P. A. Lamarre and F. A. Lundell and J. Sundh and C. C. Weber and D. Raharinjanahary and E. T. Rajoelison and J. Bergsten and B. L. Fisher and A. A. Andersson and P. Lukasik and A. Miraldo and T. Roslin and A. J. M. Tack},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.64898/2026.11.04.764147},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.04.764147v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Global homeostatic forces shape the composition of a hyperdiverse tropical insect fauna
AU - F. Ronquist
AU - E. Iwaszkiewicz-Eggebrecht
AU - L. J. A. van Dijk
AU - R. Goodsell
AU - B. C. Bellini
AU - G. Broad
AU - N. N. Godeiro
AU - E. Granqvist
AU - T. Haeggstroem
AU - J. Heraty
AU - S. Klopfstein
AU - G. P. A. Lamarre
AU - F. A. Lundell
AU - J. Sundh
AU - C. C. Weber
AU - D. Raharinjanahary
AU - E. T. Rajoelison
AU - J. Bergsten
AU - B. L. Fisher
AU - A. A. Andersson
AU - P. Lukasik
AU - A. Miraldo
AU - T. Roslin
AU - A. J. M. Tack
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.11.04.764147
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.04.764147v1
AB - Despite comprising the bulk of terrestrial biodiversity, we know surprisingly little about insect faunas, particularly in the tropics. Here, we characterize the insect fauna of Madagascar, a global biodiversity hotspot, based on extensive DNA metabarcoding of Malaise trap and leaf litter samples. We estimate that the fauna comprises at least 250,000 species, only 5% of which are currently recorded. The ecological and taxonomic composition is surprisingly similar to that of temperate forests. We show that this is likely caused by global homeostatic forces shaping net diversification rates after colonization of Madagascar rather than by the composition of colonizing lineages. Features differing from temperate forests include the dearth of parasitoids and richness of beetles. Understanding the forces shaping these patterns is key in sustainable management of tropical insect faunas.
ER -