How many species of mammals are there?

Abstract

Accurate taxonomy is central to the study of biological diversity, as it provides the needed evolutionary framework for taxon sampling and interpreting results. While the number of recognized species in the class Mammalia has increased through time, tabulation of those increases has relied on the sporadic release of revisionary compendia like the Mammal Species of the World (MSW) series. Here, we present the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD), a digital, publically accessible, and updateable list of all mammalian species, now available online: https://mammaldiversity.org. The MDD will continue to be updated as manuscripts describing new species and higher taxonomic changes are released. Starting from the baseline of the 3rd edition of MSW (MSW3), we performed a review of taxonomic changes published since 2004 and digitally linked species names to their original descriptions and subsequent revisionary articles in an interactive, hierarchical database. We found 6,495 species of currently recognized mammals (96 recently extinct, 6,399 extant), compared to 5,416 in MSW3 (75 extinct, 5,341 extant)-an increase of 1,079 species in about 13 years, including 11 species newly described as having gone extinct in the last 500 years. We tabulate 1,251 new species recognitions, at least 172 unions, and multiple major, higher-level changes, including an additional 88 genera (1,314 now, compared to 1,226 in MSW3) and 14 newly recognized families (167 compared to 153). Analyses of the description of new species through time and across biogeographic regions show a long-term global rate of ~25 species recognized per year, with the Neotropics as the overall most species-dense biogeographic region for mammals, followed closely by the Afrotropics. The MDD provides the mammalogical community with an updateable online database of taxonomic changes, joining digital efforts already established for amphibians (AmphibiaWeb, AMNH's Amphibian Species of the World), birds (e.g., Avibase, IOC World Bird List, HBW Alive), non-avian reptiles (The Reptile Database), and fish (e.g., FishBase, Catalog of Fishes).Una taxonomía que precisamente refleje la realidad biológica es fundamental para el estudio de la diversidad de la vida, ya que proporciona el armazón evolutivo necesario para el muestreo de taxones e interpretación de resultados del mismo. Si bien el número de especies reconocidas en la clase Mammalia ha aumentado con el tiempo, la tabulación de esos aumentos se ha basado en las esporádicas publicaciones de compendios de revisiones taxonómicas, tales como la serie Especies de mamíferos del mundo (MSW por sus siglas en inglés). En este trabajo presentamos la Base de Datos de Diversidad de Mamíferos (MDD por sus siglas en inglés): una lista digital de todas las especies de mamíferos, actualizable y accesible públicamente, disponible en la dirección URL https://mammaldiversity.org/. El MDD se actualizará con regularidad a medida que se publiquen artículos que describan nuevas especies o que introduzcan cambios de diferentes categorías taxonómica...

Latitudinal gradients of parasite richness: a review and new insights from helminths of cricetid rodents

“…1) and contains 792 species (Burgin et al 2018); only 60 species (~8% of all cricetids) had published surveys reporting the helminth fauna in their whole body or alimentary tracts. 1) and contains 792 species (Burgin et al 2018); only 60 species (~8% of all cricetids) had published surveys reporting the helminth fauna in their whole body or alimentary tracts.…”

“…1), a large number of species (792 species according to the most recent literature; Burgin et al 2018), and represents one of the lowest taxonomic groups suitable for investigations of the LDG of helminths using available data. The second largest family in the order Rodentia, Cricetidae, was chosen as the host taxon of interest as it has a wide geographic range (Fig.…”

“…Distributed worldwide, rodents are often involved in zoonotic disease cycles and are expected to become the most prevalent mammals in environments with increasing anthropogenic changes (Bordes et al 2015), yet investigations of the biogeographical patterns of much of their parasite fauna are lacking (but see Krasnov et al 2004, Linardi andKrasnov 2013). One dataset in particular included more parasite studies on Carnivora than Rodentia (Poulin and Leung 2011); considering rodents comprise 39.3% of all mammal species (2552 species out of 6495 species) and carnivores only 4.7% (305 species; Burgin et al 2018), this skewed representation may cause latitudinal patterns in rodent parasites to be overlooked. One dataset in particular included more parasite studies on Carnivora than Rodentia (Poulin and Leung 2011); considering rodents comprise 39.3% of all mammal species (2552 species out of 6495 species) and carnivores only 4.7% (305 species; Burgin et al 2018), this skewed representation may cause latitudinal patterns in rodent parasites to be overlooked.…”

“…Surveys were collected from the Web of Science database using generic names, species names and synonyms of each cricetid species, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and Burgin et al (2018), as primary search terms, with 'parasit*', 'helminth*', 'nematod*', 'trematod*', and 'cestod*' used within primary searches to narrow search results. Surveys were collected from the Web of Science database using generic names, species names and synonyms of each cricetid species, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and Burgin et al (2018), as primary search terms, with 'parasit*', 'helminth*', 'nematod*', 'trematod*', and 'cestod*' used within primary searches to narrow search results.…”

Multi‐dimensional biodiversity hotspots and the future of taxonomic, ecological and phylogenetic diversity: A case study of North American rodents

“…of global extant mammal diversity (Burgin, Colella, Kahn, & Upham, 2018;Mammal Diversity Database, 2019). Nearly 20% of North American species are currently threatened (IUCN, 2019; Wilson & Reeder, 2005).…”