Ten years inventorying the Iberian fauna: results and perspectives

The Iberian Peninsula is one of the richest European regions in animal species diversity. Since 1988, the objective of the nationally funded Fauna Ibérica project has been to carry out a well-documented inventory of the animal biodiversity in the Iberian-Balearic region. After 10 years of taxonomic work, this project has produced 20 monographs, which have reviewed and inventoried around 11% of the animal species that inhabit the Iberian territory. It has also described 418 new species and 519 species formerly unknown in the Iberian-Balearic region. Considering all the new Iberian species described, we estimate that the researchers involved in this project have so far completed one third of all Iberian taxonomic work. At this rate it would take at least 75 years to finish the taxonomic review of the Iberian fauna. We recommend: (i) uninterrupted public logistical and financial support for taxonomy; (ii) the promotion of a plan for the training of new specialists in the taxonomically little-known groups; (iii) the elaboration of checklists as a way to inventory the Iberian animal biodiversity more rapidly; and (iv) the use of computerized approaches to species inventories taxonomy.