Dune swale daphne is ranked tenth, but the cost of saving it is unknown. Only the collection of a few remaining plants in 1991 meant the species survived.

At number nine on the endangered rankings is eyelash seaweed, named for its size and shape, which could be saved for a $60,900 pricetag.

The coastal peppercress of Nelson is the New Zealand species eighth closest to extinction, and could be saved with additional funds of $127,000.

Just one Chesterfield skink has been seen in the wild in the last five years, earning it the seventh spot. Extra funding of $307,000 could help.

Limestone cress was ranked sixth on the new endangered species list, and between $10,000 and $200,000 was needed to conserve it in the wild.

The fairy tern was listed as number five on the most endangered list. An estimated $470,000 could boost efforts to raise population numbers, which hit an all-time low of four breeding pairs in 1983.

The acquatic fern Isoetes affinis kirkii, with just 12 plants remaining, is the fourth most endangered species. An extra $328,000 of funding could save it.

At number three on the list is the Canterbury knobbled weevil, which was thought to have gone extinct in 1924 but was rediscovered in 2004.

The second most endangered species is the Mokohinau stag beetle, and $232,700 is needed to save it.

The Maui dolphin has been ranked as the most endangered species in New Zealand in a new list. The cost of saving the aquatic mammal is unknown.

For less than a deposit on a typical Auckland house – $61,000 – you could bring one of New Zealand's most endangered back from the brink.

But forget kiwi, kakapo and kea: the benefactor would get a tiny marine plant found on just two boulders on the Kaikoura coast: eyelash seaweed.

The seaweed, along with Maui dolphins, an Auckland stag beetle, and a Canterbury weevil have won the dubious titles of being just a stroke of luck away from extinction.

NIWA Eyelash seaweed could be saved for a cost of just $60,900.

They are on the new list of New Zealand's 10 most endangered species, which was revealed alongside the cost of saving the natives at a Wellington event on Wednesday evening.

Besides the Maui dolphin – which took the most endangered spot – and the fairy tern, many of the 10 have the curse of being unknown and uncute.

Take the fourth-placed quillwort plant, which is thought to be extinct in the wild. This undramatic primitive aquatic fern used to live in Northland lakes, but after Lake Omapere's water quality plummeted there was little hope for it.

Searches uncovered a few plants and the 12 remaining members of the slow-growing species are now carefully tended in a National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research aquarium by Rohan Wells and Paul Champion.

Champion said it was rewarding to keep a whole species alive, especially one so unique in the plant world. "Who knows how many of these things disappear and nobody is even aware of it? But there's still a long way to go."

The list was revealed at the launch of the Endangered Species Foundation and was the brainchild of Mike Thorsen, an adviser of the charity.

He said population numbers were important, but were not everything. Just one Chesterfield skink has been seen since 2010 and, like the quillwort, the coastal peppercress lives on only in the lab.

Maui dolphin had 55 remaining adults at last count, but still took the No 1 spot for most endangered out of the nearly 400 species considered, Thorsen said.

"It's the number plus how quickly there are disappearing. And it's how easily we can respond to those threats.

"With Maui's dolphin there's a lot of contention and discussion on what we need to do, but we're in a state where we're not really sure what we need to do."

Conservation Minister Maggie Barry, who attended the launch, said she hoped the foundation would find new funding to save species such as the 10 on the list. "DOC is working with more threatened species, around 300, and across more ecosystems, around 500, than ever before, but it can't do everything alone."

She said the scientific survey of Maui dolphin to be completed this summer would inform her decisions about maintaining or increasing the protections for the creature.

TEN MOST ENDANGERED

1. Maui dolphin. Cost to save: unknown.

2. Mokohinau stag beetle. Cost to save: $232,700.

3. Canterbury knobbled weevil. Cost to save: unknown.

4. Isoetes affinis kirkii quillwort. Cost to save: $328,000.

5. New Zealand fairy tern. Cost to save: $470,000.

6. Limestone cress. Cost to save: $10,000 to $200,000.

7. Chesterfield skink. Cost to save $307,000.

8. Coastal peppercress. Cost to save: $127,000.

9. Eyelash seaweed. Cost to save: $60,900.

10. Dune swale daphne. Cost to save: unknown.