Data from: Global biodiversity and the expanding Tree of Life

Global biodiversity is increasingly threatened, but still poorly known. Higher taxa (e.g. genera) may represent more phylogenetic diversity than species alone, and thus there has been increasing interest in halting their loss. Yet, we know little about the discovery of new clades. Here we analyze new clades across the Tree of Life. We estimate that >700 new genera, >20 new families, and >3 new orders are described each year, all based on new species discoveries. New genus-level clades are dominated by animals, reflecting current species richness. At higher ranks, new clades are largely microscopic and dominated by bacteria, fungi, and protists. The known Tree of Life is rapidly expanding, and discovering and describing these new clades before they disappear should be an urgent research priority.