Insects dominate count of new species

PHOENIX, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- More than half the 19,232 species newly known to science in 2009, the most recent calendar year compiled, were insects, a report by U.S. researchers said.

The 2009 total of newly discovered species was a 5.6 percent increase over 2008, the report from the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University said.

The State of Observed Species report said after the 9,738 species of insects, the second-largest group in the 2009 numbers was vascular plants, totaling 2,184.

Rounding out the 2009 species discoveries were seven birds, 41 mammals and 1,487 arachnids -- spiders and mites.

The 19,232 species described as "new" or newly discovered in 2009 are about twice as many species known in the lifetime of Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who initiated the modern system of plant and animal names and classifications more than 250 years ago.

"The cumulative knowledge of species since 1758 when Linnaeus was alive is nearly 2 million, but much remains to be done," Quentin Wheeler, an ASU entomologist and founding director of the species institute, said.

"A reasonable guess is that 10 million additional plant and animal species await discovery by scientists and amateur species explorers."