Ackqwattikk Phfisch

Lepidoptera edit

Initially, because it included a phone number, I thought it was some sort of a scam, but looking more closely, I think you might have been trying to make a legitimate edit. HOWEVER: what you said - "I noticed that the article originally stated that Lepidoptera make up 10 percent of all of the living organisms on Earth." was based on a misreading. The article said 10 percent of described organisms, and 10% is actually very, very accurate. The thing you were reading on the Cal Academy website is an extrapolation - and not very trustworthy, accordingly - that extends the estimates to undescribed organisms. The estimate of described organisms is usually cited as 1.6-1.7 million, and that is reliable. The estimates of undescribed organisms vary anywhere from 3 to 100 million, and are NOT reliable. That recent estimate of 8.7 million is still just an estimate, and therefore not an appropriate source for inclusion when talking about numbers of described species. It would only be appropriate to include it if someone was citing an estimate of the number of undescribed lepidopterans, and I've heard estimates that there are at least 1 million undescribed moth species, which would be MORE than 10% of all living organisms. You can't make comparisons of known quantities to unknown quantities. Again, I apologize for accusing you of something that might have instead been an accident, but even so, the edit would have needed to be reverted. Dyanega (talk) 00:41, 4 November 2021 (UTC)

No, I wasn't trying to mess with things, it was a legitimate mistake on my part. Thanks for catching that. Ackqwattikk Phfisch (talk) 2:00, 4 November 2021 (UTC)