The current best estimate is that there are more than 200,000 species of insects in Australia. Only around 62,000 of these have been named so far. Many more are represented by specimens in insect collections, but have not yet been resolved and named. Many more still are collected for the first time in the field every year.

All Australian museums and many universities have insect collections. There are around 35 active insect taxonomists in Australia, working particularly on groups such as beetles, butterflies and moths, flies, true bugs, dragonflies, wasps and ants.

​In 2018, taxonomists described 500 new species of Australian insects.