Scientists list 2007's top 10 new species

Phoenix -- The U.S.-led International Institute for Species Exploration announced its 2007 top 10 new species, including a 75 million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur.

The institute located at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists -- scientists responsible for species exploration and classification -- said their list also includes a pink millipede, one of the most venomous snakes in the world, a mushroom, a jellyfish and a plant that resembles the "Michelin Man" icon.

"We live in an exciting time. A new generation of tools are coming online that will vastly accelerate the rate at which we are able to discover and describe species," said Arizona State University Professor Quentin Wheeler, director of the International Institute for Species Exploration. "Most people do not realize just how incomplete our knowledge of Earth's species is or the steady rate at which taxonomists are exploring that diversity.

In 2006, for example, an average of nearly 50 species per day were discovered and named."

Photos and other information concerning 2007's top 10 new species are available at http://species.asu.edu.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.