Latest update to my Global Mammal Checklist now available

If you are struggling to see new species in the wild these days then here’s a chance to get a few lifers from the comfort of your own home. I have just updated my global mammal checklist (here) and this is a much bigger revision than usual. I have compared the last version of this list (primarily based on the IUCN Redlist data) against the species covered in the Handbooks of the Mammals of the World (HMW) and the American Society of Mammalogists’ (ASM)  Mammal Diversity Database which had a major update late in 2020. So this is now a much more up to date list. I have tried to strike a balance between over splitting and over lumping.  So have generally only included a species if it appeared in at least two of the IUCN, HMW and ASM sources. So, for instance, many of the “new” ungulates included in the HMW are not here. But a few are.

All in all there are more than 600 changes and the world mammal list grew by around 450 species. All these changes are listed in the second tab of the spreadsheet “changes over time”. Scroll down to line 1000 to see where these more recent changes start (only with scientific names – sorry!)

There are plenty of name and genus changes.

Some notable splits that might give your list a boost includes 4 new species of (formerly North American) deermouse in the USA, several new Grey Four-eyed Opossums, two new Giraffes, a new Bushbuck, several new Dik-Diks from what was Kirk’s Dik-dik, and Malabar Red Muntjak is now the species in southern India and Sri Lanka.

But the list giveth and the list taketh away. India’s Southern Plains Grey Langur is no more, neither is Large-headed Capuchin, Long-beaked Common Dolphin, Colombian Woolly Monkey and some of the Goral species.

Lots to check on but I made a net gain of 26 species so it was well worth the effort. Well I thought so at least!

Also a reminder that you can keep your sightings and list uptodate using the excellent, and free, Scythebill software, which has updated its own mammal taxonomy to reflect my list.

As always happy to get comments, corrections etc which I can consider before the next update.

Jon