One-fifth of the world’s invertebrates may be heading for extinction according to new report

In the report Spineless prepared by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in conjunction with IUCN and the IUCN Species Survival Commission more than 12,000 invertebrates from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species were reviewed by conservation scientists. Freshwater species were found to be under the highest risk of extinction, followed closely by terrestrial and marine invertebrates. The findings indicate that the threat status of invertebrates is likely very similar to that of vertebrates and plants.