I finally finished going through the last volume of Handbook of Mammals of the World. It is the best one in the series: parts of the text look like they’ve actually been proofread, and only a handful of maps are misplaced or don’t correspond to the text.
The plates are also better. Alas, one of the illustrators obviously wasn’t up to the job: his images are all copypasted and often don’t look even remotely similar to the animals they are supposed to portray, including some common and well-known species with hundreds of photos easily available online, such as North American Lasiurus. Just look at the photo of one of the plates: #252 is supposed to be the hoary bat.
Other serious issues are: (1) there is no introduction explaining various technical terms used in describing bat morphology and echolocation calls; (2) many bats were apparently painted with all details of their facial structure accurately shown, but printed so small that those details are not visible, rendering many plates useless, particularly those showing horseshoe bats; (3) some authors show serious pro-splitting bias, ignoring or refusing to follow recommended lumps but almost always accepting splits; (4) many recent publications were missed, particularly on taxa occurring in East Asia (could be the same for Africa and Latin America, I just don’t know).
Taxonomic changes are too numerous to list, but for those interested I have an updated global checklist; it mostly follows HBW, but incorporates more recent papers and a few that the authors of the volume apparently missed. Just let me know and I’ll send you a PDF.
Hi Vladimir,
I’d like a copy of your mammals list please, thank you
Gladly, but what’s your email?
Dear Vladimir,
I would like have pdf copy at dmunkhnast@gmail.com
Thank you,
Munkhnast
Sent.
oreornis@gmail .com for Phil G thank you
sent
Speaking of taxonomy changes, there is a proposal to split the meadow vole into three PSC species: https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/101/1/36/5688696. The authors didn’t sample the contact zone or conduct cross-breeding experiments. They found the insular vole to be a subspecies of meadow vole, but that’s been obvious for some time.
Also, Tonatia saurophila has been split into 3 spp., 2 of them extant: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/46995/
Dear Vladimir,
Thanks for useful review. I just received HMW9 and would really appreciate a copy of the pdf you referred to.
Thanks.
Jon jon.swenson@nmbu.no
Sent.
Meanwhile, Hylomyscus species keep multiplying: https://www.zoologicalbulletin.de/BzB_Volumes/Volume_69_1/055_kerbis_peterhans_20200228.pdf
Please send me a copy as well, I would appreciate it a lot, my e-mail is ohaukkovaara@gmail.com
Sent 🙂
New Miniopterus from Mt. Nimba: http://novataxa.blogspot.com/2020/03/miniopterus-nimbae.html
Talpa levantis is split: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42991-020-00010-4?fbclid=IwAR0Zx-zL1pQoVYKy8E2MqncgwABOx8FJyJWL2DS0fw8Dj0Ov1g0RVlJEMPI
Hi Vladimir, thanks for the review! Can you please send me the list. twilighter@abv.bg
Sure.
Hi Vladimir
I know it has been a while since you posted this, but I was wondering, Can I get a copy of your pdf? I would really appreciate it.
My email: cdmarroquinc@gmail.com
Thanks
Sure, but I haven’t gone through all the recent squirrel changes.