According to the World Conservation Union, more than 800 plant and animal species have become extinct since 1500, when accurate historical and scientific records began.
However many have reappeared.
- Plants
- Mount Diablo buckwheat (Eriogonom truncatum) — Thought extinct around 1935 but found again in 2005.
- Furbish's lousewort (Pedicularis furbishiae) - Canadian species identified as an extinct species in 1880, rediscovered in the 1970s.
- Camellia piquetiana, long known only from 19th century herbarium specimens labeled as Thea piquetiana until it was rediscovered in Vietnam in 2003.
- Invertebrates
- Madeiran land snail (Discus guerinianus) — Thought extinct in 1996 but found again in 1999.
- Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) — Rediscovered in 2001.
- Giant Palouse earthworm (Driloleirus americanus); thought extinct in 1980s, but found again in 2006.
- Xylotoles costatus, New Zealand longhorn beetle, considered extinct from 1986 to 1996, found again on Chatham Islands
- Prionomyrmex macrops, Australian ant discovered in 1931, not seen again until 1977.
- Canterbury knobbed weevil (Karocolens tuberculatus), last seen in 1922 until it was rediscovered near Lake Tekapo in December 2004.
- Amphibians
- Painted frog (Atelopus ebenoides marinkellei) Believed extinct 1995, rediscovered in 2006.
- Telmatobufo venustus was not seen from 1899 until 1999.
- Reptiles
- La Palma Giant Lizard (Gallotia auaritae) Thought to have been extinct since 1500, but rediscovered in 2007.
- Phoboscincus bocourti, a 50-cm-long lizard, was previously known from a single specimen captured around 1870 and was long presumed extinct. In 2003, on a tiny islet, it was rediscovered.
- Arakan Forest Turtle, last seen in 1908 but found again in 1994.
- Mammals
- Fernandina rice rat (Nesoryzomys fernandinae) — Thought extinct in 1996 (last seen 1980) but found again in late 1990s.
- Bavarian pine vole (Microtus bavaricus) - believed extinct in the 1960s, but rediscovered in 2000.
- Woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus) - known only from pelts collected in Pakistan in the late nineteenth century, until live specimens were collected in the 1990s.
- Gilbert's Potoroo (Potorous gilbertii), extremely rare Australian mammal presumed extinct from 1800s until 1994.
Gilberts Potoroo
- New Holland Mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae) was first described by George Waterhouse in 1843, it vanished from view for over a century before its rediscovery in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park north of Sydney, in 1967.
- Tammar Wallaby (Macropus eugenii eugenii), this Australian subspecies was presumed extinct from 1925 until genetically matched with imported species in New Zealand in 1998.
- Cuban Solenodon (Atopogale cubanus), thought to have been extinct until a live specimen was found in 2003.
- Birds
- Ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) — Thought extinct circa 1987 before unconfirmed sightings in 1999 and 2004.
- Jerdon's Courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus) — A wader from India, assumed extinct until 1986.
- Madagascar serpent-eagle (Eutriorchis astur) - rediscovered in 1993, sixty years since the previous sighting.
- Grand Comoro scops-owl (Otus pauliani).
- Takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri) — Assumed extinct in 1898 but found again in 1948.
- New Zealand storm-petrel — Believed extinct from 1850 but sighted again in 2003.
- Bermuda Petrel or "Cahow" (Pterodroma cahow) — Thought extinct since 1620 until three dozen were found in 1951 on a remote, uninhabited rock outcropping in Bermuda.
- Forest Owlet (Heteroglaux blewitti) — Assumed extinct in the 19th century, but rediscovered in central India in 1997.
- Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis), extremely rare Australian bird presumed extinct from 1880s until 1990.
- Edwards's Pheasant (Lophura edwardii), a Vietnamese pheasant presumed extinct from 1928 was rediscovered in 1998.
- Madagascar Pochard (Aythya innotata), thought extinct since 1991 until a small group were spotted in 2006.
- Caatinga Woodpecker (Celeus obrieni), a Brazilian woodpecker feared extinct after no specimen had been found since its discovery in 1926. Rediscovered in 2006.
- Cone-billed Tanager (Conothraupis mesoleuca) a Tanager species that was undetected from 1938 to 2003, but was then rediscovered in gallery forest in Emas National Park.
- Large-billed Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus orinus), a warbler rediscovered in Thailand in 2006, previous known only from a specimen collected in India in 1867.
- Utila Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula deschauenseei), subspecies of the Plain Chachalaca from Honduras, not recorded between 1963 and 2000 and confirmed with a photograph in 2005

Coelacanth (Latimeria), a member of a clade (Coelacanthimorpha) thought to have gone extinct 80 million years ago; found in 1938.
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