New Species Found in Island Crater

...A crew of scientists, academics and filmmakers from the British broadcaster visited the South Pacific island of Papua New Guinea last spring to film a nature documentary, and in the process discovered more than 30 new species of animals. Among the unknown creatures — all living inside the crater of the extinct volcano Mt. Bosavi — was a giant rat that measured 32.2 in. and weighed more than 3.3 lbs., making it one of the largest rodents on Earth (scientists provisionally named the housecat-sized animal the Bosavi woolly rat). The historic find also included 16 new species of frogs, at least three new types of fish and one bat. "It was mind-blowing," George McGavin, a biologist on the BBC team, told England's Guardian newspaper. "The crater of Mt. Bosavi really is the lost world."...

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...biologists are identifying new species at a torrid rate, about 50 a day; nearly 17,000 new plants and animals were described in 2006 alone, or some 1% of the 1.8 million species that have been recognized so far.

The truth is that scientists have only the foggiest idea of how many animals and plants exist on the planet.

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