About 15,000 species of insects have been recorded in Norway; however the list is far from being complete because many groups of Norwegian insects are still poorly known. The total number of Norwegian species can be estimated at 23,000 species.
The following table provides the recorded and expected number of species for every order.
| ORDER |
Published, 1993 *)
|
Published + unpublished, 1993 *)
|
Registered, 2006**)
|
Expected *)
|
| Thysanura | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| Diplura | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Protura | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Collembola | 280 | 283 | 300 | |
| Ephemeroptera | 45 | 45 | 48 | 48 |
| Odonata | 44 | 44 | 48 | 48 |
| Plecoptera | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 |
| Orthoptera | 28 | 28 | 29 | 31 |
| Dermaptera | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Blattodea | 6 | 6 | 10 | 10 |
| Psocoptera | 17 | 51 | 57 | |
| Phthiraptera | 41 | 246 | 525 | |
| Hemiptera (Homoptera + Heteroptera) | 1059 | 1143 | 1221 | 1320 |
| Thysanoptera | 90 | 96 | 120 | |
| Megaloptera | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Raphidioptera | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Neuroptera | 55 | 55 | 57 | 57 |
| Coleoptera | 3293 | 3375 | 3495 | 3800 |
| Strepsiptera | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| Mecoptera | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Siphonaptera | 51 | 55 | 60 | |
| Diptera | 2654 | 3955 | 4639 | 6029 |
| Lepidoptera | 2092 | 2092 | 2194 | 2400 |
| Trichoptera | 189 | 195 | 199 | 200 |
| Hymenoptera | 1272 | 2959 | 8158 | |
| TOTAL | 11279 | 14694 | 23222 | |
*) Ottesen, Preben S. (1993) (Ed.) Norske insektfamilier og deres artsantall. NINA Utredning, 55. Trondheim, Norsk institutt for naturforskning (NINA), 40 pp.
**) Kålås, J.A., Viken, Å & Bakken, T. (2006) (Eds.) Norsk Rødliste 2006 - 2006 Norwegian Red List. Artsdatabanken, Trondheim, Norway, 416 pp.
Last updated: April 15, 2009