Species and status
Lost species and rediscovery
Species nobody has confirmed alive in years, the lists that name them, and where a rediscovery gets reported.
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Species Black List rediscoveriesnew
Daily feed of rediscovery reports across fourteen national news editions, showing what was reported rather than what is confirmed. We run this one
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Re:wild Search for Lost Species
The master list: 4,350+ species undocumented for ten years or more, nominated by over 100 IUCN specialist groups. Carries the rotating Top 25 Most Wanted and separate target lists for amphibians, turtles, sharks, primates and small mammals
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Lost Mammals Initiative
25 lost or barely known mammals, from Thor's hero shrew to the saola, run as a community competition with tour-operator prizes. Five are already found
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Search for Lost Birds
121 lost birds as of January 2026, revised annually with the adds and removes published
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Search for the Lost Fishes
300+ lost freshwater fishes with a 10 Most Wanted, and it invites outside teams to mount their own expeditions
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Journal of Lost Species
New peer-reviewed journal, free to publish in, that takes unsuccessful searches as well as rediscoveries and explicitly invites amateur naturalists
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iNaturalist Search for Lost Species project
Where sightings of candidate lost species get logged, 13 sub-projects and 750+ observers
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The Lost Insect Species
Insects unobserved for fifty years or more, with trips organized to go refind them
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Atelopus Survival Initiative
60 organizations across 15 countries chasing harlequin toads, around 40% of which have not been seen since the early 2000s
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Lost Ladybug Project
Cornell hunt for vanished native North American ladybugs. Note the link is http, because https fails on this host
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Artensterben.de
Extinctions since 1500 plus an annual rediscovery retrospective, in German and English
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Hawaii Plant Extinction Prevention Program
Plants down to fewer than 50 wild individuals, and the closest thing to a systematic lost-plants search
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Kew Lost and Found Fungi
100 of Britain's most under-recorded fungi, sent out to volunteer treasure hunts. Delivered 2014 to 2020, so read it as a method rather than a live project
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Lost and rediscovered tetrapods dataset
Lindken et al. 2024 open dataset of lost and rediscovered tetrapods, with taxonomy, geography and Red List status
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Lost but not forgotten
The Oryx paper that defines missing, lost and long-lost. Everything above uses its terms