Taxonomy news (updated)

The most interesting news bit is the new paper by Colella et al., proposing to split ermine (a. k. a. stoat, short-tailed weasel) into 3-4 species, one of them endemic to Haida Gwai and Prince of Wales Islands (try Beaver Falls Trail on the latter island). Based on mtDNA and morphology, but the latter is analyzed in a weird way. I’d wait for nDNA data at least.
A review of African Lophuromys is probably a bit hardcore; scroll down to Taxonomic Assessment chapter.
Another review shows that there are not one but three Chiromyscus in Indochina. It’s unclear how to tell them apart, unfortunately. I’ll ask one of the authors I know personally if there are any field markings.
Also, Myotis nesopolus has been split: the two former subspecies are not closely related. The mainland form is now called M. larensis, while M. nesopolus is confined to Curaçao and Bonaire. Both are rare and difficult to find; I’ve never seen M. larensis, and only found M. nesopolus on my second trip to Bonaire, after spending a lot of time searching local caves.
Finally, a new preprint argues that African wolf should be split into multiple species. After seeing these animals in different parts of the range I agree that there is zero chance it’s a monotypic taxon, but are those forms species or subspecies? Considering how convoluted the phylogeny of other Canis species is, I don’t think this can be resolved without an extensive study of morphology, mtDNA and nDNA. Wouldn’t be surprised if some are actually golden jackals or (ancient?) hybrids.