invertebrata
awild | December 11, 2008
The above pie chart shows the relative proportions of described species in various groups of organisms. As we can see, most species are invertebrate animals. Things like snails, flatworms, spiders, sponges, and insects.
Now compare that slice of pie to the proportion of GenBank sequences that represent invertebrates:
Yes, that thin blue wedge is all we've got. While most mammal species have had at least a gene or two sequenced, the vast majority of non-vertebrate species have yet to meet a pipettor.  Entire families of insects haven't received even a cursory genetic study.
Of…