Newly discovered species are often threatened with extinction but in many cases have received limited conservation effort. To guide future conservation, it is important to determine the extinction risk of newly described species. Here, we test how time since formal description of a species is linked to its threat status to obtain a better insight into the possible threat status of newly described species and as yet undescribed species. We compiled IUCN Red List data for 53,808 species from five vertebrate groups described since 1758. Extinction risk for more recently described species has increased significantly over time; the proportion of threatened species among newly described species has increased from 11.9% for species described between 1758 and 1767 to 30.0% for those described between 2011 and 2020. Based on projections from our analysis, this could further increase to 47.1% by 2050. The pattern is consistent across vertebrate taxonomic groups and biomes. Current species extinction rates estimated from data of all known species are therefore highly likely to be underestimated. Intensive fieldwork to boost discovery of new species and immediate conservation action for newly described species, especially in tropical areas, is urgently required.

中文翻译：

---

未描述的物种比已知物种具有更高的灭绝风险

新发现的物种经常面临灭绝的威胁，但在许多情况下，保护工作有限。为了指导未来的保护，重要的是确定新描述物种的灭绝风险。在这里，我们测试了自正式描述物种以来的时间如何与其威胁状态相关联，以便更好地了解新描述的物种和尚未描述的物种的可能威胁状态。我们汇编了自 1758 年以来描述的五个脊椎动物群的 53,808 个物种的 IUCN 红色名录数据。随着时间的推移，最近描述的物种的灭绝风险显着增加。新描述物种中受威胁物种的比例从 1758 年至 1767 年间描述的物种的 11.9% 增加到 2011 年至 2020 年间描述的物种的 30.0%。根据我们的分析预测，到 2050 年，这一比例可能进一步增加到 47.1%。这种模式在脊椎动物分类群和生物群落中是一致的。因此，根据所有已知物种的数据估计的当前物种灭绝率极有可能被低估。迫切需要进行密集的实地工作，以促进新物种的发现和对新描述物种的立即保护行动，特别是在热带地区。