New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity: Vol. 1 Kingdom Animalia—Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia

New Zealand is a 'hotspot' of biological diversity, much of it is still unexplored, with a high proportion of endemic species and higher categories of life. This volume is the first of three reviewing and inventorying New Zealand's entire biota: some 55,000-plus species. The scope - all of life through all of time, in all environments and from the Cambian to the present day - is unparalleled. The volumes are organised according to a six-kingdom view of life, and each chapter is dedicated to a single phylum. Volume 1 covers three major branches of the animal kingdom: Radiata, Lophotrchozoa and Deuterostomes. Radiata include sponges, placozoans, comb jellies, and cnidarians (corals, jellyfish, and their kin). Lophorochozoa are the shelled and tentaculate worm-like groups. The Deuterostomes include all vertebrates and their 'lower' relatives the echinoderms (sea stars, sea eggs, and kin), half-chordates, and sea squirts. In this volume the reader will learn about some strange New Zealand life forms as well as knowing why biodiversity is important to science, conservation, biosecurity, biotechnology, and our economic and environmental well-being.

Dennis P. Gordon is a scientist at the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research in Wellington, New Zealand, where he has led a marine biodiversity research group for 13 years. In 2005 he was the recipient of the prestigious New Zealand Marine Sciences Society Award for his lifetime contribution to the advancement of marine science.