Germany’s DNA trap census reveals a vast, largely unnamed insect diversity
Germany’s Malaise-trap program, spanning 75 sites over 2019–2020, sequenced roughly four billion DNA fragments to identify 10,803 insect species. Modeling suggests about 32,000 species are present, but most remain unnamed due to gaps in reference DNA barcodes, underscoring the urgent need to expand barcode libraries to better monitor insect declines.
