Abstract
If numbers and variety are taken as the criteria of successful evolution, then insects are the predominant form of life on earth. Other terrestrial arthropods are also more numerous and varied than vertebrates. Thus, there are about 50 000 kinds of spider and perhaps 30 000 different mites, compared to a mere 4500 species of mammals and 8600 birds; but the insects far exceed all these figures, with an estimated number of species near to. 900 000. This enormous proliferation is a consequence of their evolutionary history, which began far back in geological time (see Fig. 1.1).
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© 1980 J. R. Busvine
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Busvine, J.R. (1980). Insects and hygiene. In: Insects and Hygiene. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3198-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3198-6_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-412-15910-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-3198-6
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