MSW Help: Taxonomic Records

- Retrieve the MSW Home Page (which includes the navigation buttons for selecting the root of the MSW tree, a specific scientific name, or a common mammal name).

- Retrieve this document.

- Retrieve a list of the names of the next lower taxonomic category included in the current taxon. This button will not be displayed for SPECIES records.

- Display any photographic images associated with this taxon. If this button does not appear, no images have been associated with this taxon in the database.

- Query the database for any synonyms of this taxon. If no synonyms exist for this taxon, the query will return a 'No Data Found' message. This button will not be displayed for Synonym records.

• Author........ : The Name of the author(s) who originally described the taxon, and the year in which it was described, for example: (Linnaeus, 1758). A Species originally named by its author in a genus other than the one in which it is now placed has parentheses surrounding the author and date. In this example Linnaeus, when he first named the red fox vulpes, placed it in the genus Canis instead of Vulpes. Should it be returned to Canis, the parentheses would be removed, for example: Linnaeus, 1758.
• Citation...... : The citation for the work in which the original description appeared. In some instances, especially in older literature, the date printed on a publication was not the actual date of publication. For example, many of the "parts" of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London were published in the year following that on the text. The actual date of publication is that used as the date of authority, and is found in brackets after the citation. Usually, only the first page on which the species name appears follows the title citation. In some cases, for a variety of reasons, more than one page may be cited, as well as references to figures or plates. We have attempted to cite the first page on which the name appears, but if it is not listed unequivocally, the user is advised to consult the original source.
• Common Name... : Names in common usage that refer, generally, to this taxon. Not always available.
• Original Name. : The original name of the taxon, if different than the currently recognized one.
• Distribution.. : The geographical range of each species. The distribution is summarized using contemporary political units or, in some cases, geographical names. However, geographical names are usually used only when the entire area is included in the range of the species. We have attempted to standardize usage and spelling, but some inconsistencies may remain, particularly in transliterations from other alphabets. Country names have changed drastically during the time the text was being prepared; we have attempted to give the most current name whenever possible. In cases where it was not possible to determine the current country name, we have used "former" (for example: former USSR, if the currently recognized republic is indeterminate). Distribution records resulting from human introduction are noted. Maps of the distributions of many species are provided in the cited literature. If a species is known only from the type locality, that is noted.
• Type Species.. : The type species for which the generic name was proposed. In general, the name appears as it was originally described, including authority. When the type species is no longer a recognized species, the species with which it is currently synonymized is listed in parentheses in its original form with its authority.
• Type Locality. : The geographical site where the type material of a species was obtained. Type localities quoted exactly from the original description are enclosed in quotation marks. Information not surrounded by quotation marks has been arranged where possible with the current country name followed by state, province, or district, and specific locality. Elevation above sea level has been included when available, as have global coordinates in some cases. When appropriate, restrictions of the type locality made by revisers have been included as well. We have followed a variety of sources for current country names, given the rapidly changing conditions in many parts of the world.
• Comments...... : Taxonomic and nomenclatorial alternatives are accompanied by appropriate documentation, including opinions of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN); revisions and additional literature sources are also cited. In the interest of brevity, secondary reference sources are sometimes cited to document taxonomic evidence, and reference to the primary sources can be found therein. Personal opinions of the author(s) and unpublished information are sometimes included here as well. When appropriate, other data such as references discussing type locality, occurrence of hybridization, and species known only from a single or few specimens are also included in the comments section. Absence of a comments section may indicate either that the species is taxonomically noncontroversial or that it is too poorly known to require comment. Note: If the Comments text is longer than 255 characters, the text will be truncated and a hypertext link (for example: ...[more]...) will be appended. Selecting that link will retrieve a page displaying the entire comments text.
• Status........ : Mammal species covered by the regulations for the U.S. Endangered Species Act (U.S. ESA) as of July 15, 1991; those listed in the 1990 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Animals; and those listed in the appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as of June 11, 1992, are noted in the text in this category. U.S. ESA endangered and threatened categories and IUCN extinct, endangered, vulnerable, rare, indeterminate (known to be endangered, vulnerable, or rare, but information is not complete enough to assign a category), insufficiently known (suspected to belong to the above categories), threatened, and commercially threatened categories are provided. In addition, Appendices I, II, and III of CITES are listed, where Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction that are or may be affected by trade, Appendix II includes species that although not necessarily threatened with extinction may become so unless trade in them is strictly controlled, as well as nonthreatened species that must be subject to regulation in order to control threatened species, and Appendix III includes species that any Party identifies as being subject to regulation within its jurisdiction for purposes of preventing or restricting exploitation, and for which it needs the cooperation of other Parties in controlling trade. The Federal Register (for U.S. ESA) and CITES appendices should be consulted for updates on current status. Note: If the Status text is longer than 255 characters, the text will be truncated and a hypertext link (for example: ...[more]...) will be appended. Selecting that link will retrieve a page displaying the entire status text.