I found here that species-wise it is cow. But, collectively, insects may exceed even mammals. So, which class of animals constitutes the largest biomass?
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$\begingroup$ Prokaryotes still rule the world. Bacterial and Archaeal biomass far exceeds any other class of living organism. $\endgroup$– AMRCommented Oct 26, 2015 at 8:58
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2$\begingroup$ But prokaryotes are no animals. $\endgroup$– ChrKoenigCommented Oct 26, 2015 at 9:28
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$\begingroup$ according ot this, arthropods. weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/total-biomass-weight-species-earth the big kicker is krill, there is a LOT of rill in the ocean. $\endgroup$– JohnCommented Sep 13, 2023 at 22:42
1 Answer
Following from MarchHo's comment, I have not been able to find class-specific (in the formal sense) estimates, but if you meant 'class' in an informal sense, the following may be useful.
A nice infographic covering the relative biomass of all land mammals is here, and a full table for species groups (at the level of domesticated vertebrates, invertebrates, etc) is here (reproduced below).
Short answer: amongst animals, invertebrates are where the mass is.
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$\begingroup$ Don't invertebrates make up multiple phyla and not a single class though? $\endgroup$– March HoCommented Oct 26, 2015 at 13:50
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$\begingroup$ @MarchHo Good point. I read the question as 'group' in the informal sense, but that was based on the comments mentioning Kingdom-level groups, rather than the question itself. $\endgroup$– bshaneCommented Oct 26, 2015 at 14:29