I haven’t posted these updates for a few months and this one might be incomplete. Sorry, the war in Ukraine has been a major distraction.
1. New shrew Chodsigoa dabieshanensis described from Anhui Province. Yet another new species from the mountains just N of the Yangtze – I should check them out sometime.
2. A review of Patagonian Abrothrix, confirming that hershkovitzi, canescens, llanoi and xanthorhina are best treated as subspecies of olivacea.
3. New species Mindomys kutuku decribed from SE Ecuador (the genus was previously known only from N Ecuador on the W slope).
4. A proposal to split Chilomys instans into six species. Unfortunately, the paper is centered on Ecuador and doesn’t discuss the new species’ ranges in Colombia.
5. New species Phyllotis camiari described from Argentina. I have PDF.
6. A review of pikas of subgenus Conothoa, with details on subspecies, morphology and distribution. Notably, O. gloveri is included in O. erythrotis as a subspecies.
7. A new paper on muntjac phylogeny. It proposes recognizing at least 12 species (2 species recognized by IUCN were not sampled), although it is based only on mtDNA and the authors mostly use PSC. The paper looks more like an abstract, and the provenance of the specimens for the two Annamite taxa that are notoriously difficult to distinguish is not discussed.
8. Finally, a proposal to split the “coastal type” bottlenose dolphins of eastern North Atlantic (together with Caribbean populations) as Tursiops erebennus. I haven’t seen the full text yet; generally I don’t like studies on the phylogenetics of widespread taxa limited to just one geographical area, but maybe the paper addresses other parts of the range as well.
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Some recent articles
Jon Hall, , General Mammal Watching, 0
Hello all, I’m back from a successful Snow Leopard search in Ladakh. A report will follow soonish. Meantime here...
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Global Mammal Checklist: new update
Jon Hall, , General Mammal Watching, 16
I have just uploaded an updated global mammal checklist (here). The first update in 12 months. The checklist began...
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Chiricahua, AZ squirrel ID
John Fox, , General Mammal Watching, 0
These are from June, 2010. Reading Richard Webb’s excellent trip report reminded me I had never decided what they...
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sample page spread, Primates of the World
charleswhood, , General Mammal Watching, 0
This goes with the post just previous. In the US edition it’s out from Princeton U Press, 2013, created...
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New Trip Reports: Tibet & Southern California
Jon Hall, , General Mammal Watching, 0
Two more trip reports today More proof, as if I needed it, that I really do need to visit...
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RFI: Amami Rabbit
Ben S, , General Mammal Watching, 0
A friend of mine is planning a trip to Japan this summer, and he’d like to see Amami Rabbit....
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Mammals in the News
Jon Hall, , Africa, Australasia, Europe and the Palearctic, General Mammal Watching, Oriental, 0
A few recent stories that caught my eye. I was expecting some sort of online tool to identify birds...
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Which animal is this?
jeanphilippebelgium, , General Mammal Watching, 0
Good day, In November 2015 we went to Namibia and we could take a picture of this small animal...
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I am waiting to receive the Bottlenose Dolphin proposal, but this does build upon a few decades of genetic and morphological work that has looked at the coastal and offshore morphs of Bottlenose Dolphin. So while I can’t comment yet on methods or arguments, it should probably be taken seriously.
I don’t doubt their results, but I hope it doesn’t end up with the kind of situation we’ve had with orcas for decades, when there are proposed splits from different areas but nobody bothers to figure out how they all fit together. Like, is Tursiops “gephyreus ” related to the coastal form? What about dolphins in Europe? The ones in other oceans?
My understanding is the big issue with Killer Whales is that people are not sure what existing “names” go with which of the forms, and people are resistant to just assigning existing names or creating new ones. Since multiple forms can exist in a single area, geography isn’t much of a help, and many of the original descriptions are just too vague and often lacking good material to confidently identify the type.
I think if the different forms had clear names associated with them, then we would have seem splits already, as there are there is some decent phylogeny work using genetic data out there, so we mostly have a good idea of how the major clades relate to each other.
Just got the PDF. They actually did a range-wide study with interesting results. One of them is that Tursiops nuuanu of eastern South Pacific might also be a valid species.
Please send me the PDF of Phyllotis camiari n. sp.
What’s your email?