Stamps Wiki:EUROPA2021/14

Germany

Europe Series: Endangered National Wildlife

6 May 2021

On 6 May 2021, the German Federal Ministry of Finance issued a special postage stamp entitled "Endangered National Wildlife" from the "Europe" series.

Insects are amazing creatures in some ways: They have been populating the earth for at least 400 million years and no other animal class is even remotely as diverse as they are. So far, around 900,000 insect species have been scientifically described and several million previously undiscovered species are suspected, especially in the tropical rainforests. The largest order in the class of insects are the Beetles (Coleoptera) with 350,000 species. They were probably formed 265 million years ago and are now found on all continents except Antarctica. About 8,000 of them are native to Central Europe, many are considered to be adaptive artists. But changing environmental conditions and the disappearance of habitats threaten the continued existence of numerous species.