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Biodiversity
New Zealand's native species
There are an estimated 80,000 native species in New Zealand. Almost 55,000 of these have been identified and about 30,000 have been scientifically described, named and classified.
Number of known1 native species in New Zealand, 2007
| Group | Marine | Land-based | Freshwater |
|---|---|---|---|
Bacteria2 |
40 |
309 |
341 |
Protozoa (single-celled eukaryotes – organisms whose cells have membrane-bound nuclei) |
1,663 |
671 |
465 |
Chromista (group of eukaryotes other than protozoa) |
855 |
158 |
922 |
Plants |
626 |
5,165 |
1,107 |
Fungi3 |
3 |
6,781 |
255 |
Animals |
12,637 |
20,337 |
2,410 |
Total4 |
15,824 |
33,421 |
5,500 |
Notes:
(1) This includes the numbers of described species plus known species that have not yet been described.
(2) The numbers given for bacteria are based mainly on cultured species in New Zealand. Some of these have not been broken down according to their environment - most are land-based.
(3) The numbers given for aquatic species of fungi are approximate.
(4) The totals provided do not equal the sum of the rows as there is some overlap due to different life-history stages in different environments (for example, aquatic larval stages and land-based adult stages).
This information has come from the latest national state of the environment report Environment New Zealand 2007.
Last updated: December 2008
