[amphitoky]

that's not just true for viruses, it's true for pretty much anything. we've barely scraped the surface in terms of sequencing microbes, fungi, plants, birds, fish, ..., not to even consider variation at the population (or god forbid, somatic cell) level.

[mirimir]

Back in the day, you only knew about microorganisms and viruses that you knew how to grow. And that apparently excludes about 99.9% of stuff.

In Biology 101, I recall that we cloned bacteria from sewage, and then cloned a bacteriophage. But the instructors were very careful that we cloned E. coli :)

[throwaway2048]

And we are driving huge percentages to extinction before they are even recognized.