title: Comment on "Can we name Earth's species before they go extinct?".
abstract: Costello et al. (Review, 25 January 2013, p. 413) challenged the common view that many species are disappearing before being described. We suggest that their conclusion is overly optimistic because of a limited selection and interpretation of available evidence that tends to overestimate rates of species description and underestimate the number of species on Earth and their current extinction rate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. cmora@hawaii.edu
authors.forename: Camilo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rollo
authors.forename: Derek P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Tittensor
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002965:Classification; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D009626:Terminology as Topic