This image shows a male Indonesian fanged frog Limnonectes larvaepartus beside the live born tadpoles (circled) born earlier

A 'living fossil' multicellular animal that looks like mushroom and lives 3,200ft (975 metres) down on the sea floor off the coast of Australia may be an entirely new phylum – a taxonomic rank that groups organisms of similar morphology.

Finally, a red and green plant used in Christmas celebrations by villagers in Mexico was also found to be a new species.

Dr Wheeler said: 'The nearly 2 million species named to date represent a small fraction of an estimated 12 million.

'Among the remaining 10 million are irreplaceable clues to our own origins, a detailed blueprint of how the biosphere self-organized, and precious clues to better, more efficient, and more sustainable ways to meet human needs while conserving wild living things.

'It is time to mount a mission to planet Earth to distinguish, describe, name and classify its life-forms before it is too late.'