Growth of the European taxonomic inventory. FontaineBenoît van AchterbergKees Angel Alonso-ZarazagaMiguel AraujoRafael AscheManfred AspöckHorst AspöckUlrike AudisioPaolo AukemaBerend BaillyNicolas BalsamoMaria A. BankRuud BelfioreCarlo BogdanowiczWieslaw BoxshallGeoffrey BurckhardtDaniel ChylareckiPrzemysław DeharvengLouis DuboisAlain EnghoffHenrik FochettiRomolo FontaineColin GargominyOlivier Soledad Gomez LopezMaria GoujetDaniel S. HarveyMark HellerKlaus-Gerhard van HelsdingenPeter HochHannelore De JongYde KarsholtOle LosWouter MagowskiWojciech A. MassardJos J. McInnesSandra MendesLuis F. MeyEberhard MichelsenVerner MinelliAlessandro M. Nieto NafrıaJuan J. van NieukerkenErik PapeThomas De PrinsWilly RamosMarian RicciClaudia RoselaarCees RotaEmilia SegersHendrik TimmTarmo van TolJan BouchetPhilippe 2012 <p>Cumulative number of valid species of European terrestrial and freshwater multicellular species since Linnaeus. A: All species. B: Birds, a virtually completely inventoried compartment of European biodiversity. C: Coleoptera, where the number of valid species has steadily increased and shows no sign of levelling. D: Acari, which remained neglected for two centuries, and are now exhibiting a high discovery rate. E: Platyhelminthes, where the impression of a saturated inventory could be due to a current lack of taxonomic workforce. F: Neuropterida orders, for which the rate of description is erratic and reflects bursts of activity by a handful of taxonomists.</p>