For over two decades, near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been applied to a wide spectrum of problems in the field of insect taxonomy. It provides a rapid, non‐destructive and relatively cheap method of metabolomic profiling, which can often be used to discriminate closely related species in the same genus. Furthermore, very little training or entomological knowledge is required to operate the instrument. However, a taxonomist is still required to ensure accurate identification of samples used for NIRS model creation and validation. To date, most research has focused on species of economic or epidemiological importance, such as mosquitoes, flies or stored product pests. However, an increasing number of studies are applying NIRS for entomological research with a purely “academic” purpose. As research continues in this field, NIRS has the potential to become more widely accepted in entomology, allowing for the rapid metabolomic profiling of thousands of species.

中文翻译：

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分类昆虫学的近红外光谱（NIRS）：简要回顾

二十多年来，近红外光谱 (NIRS) 已应用于昆虫分类学领域的广泛问题。它提供了一种快速、无损且相对便宜的代谢组学分析方法，通常可用于区分同一属中的密切相关物种。此外，操作该仪器只需要很少的培训或昆虫学知识。但是，仍然需要分类学家来确保准确识别用于 NIRS 模型创建和验证的样本。迄今为止，大多数研究都集中在具有经济或流行病学重要性的物种上，例如蚊子、苍蝇或储藏产品害虫。然而，越来越多的研究正在将 NIRS 应用于纯粹的“学术”目的的昆虫学研究。随着该领域研究的继续，