Journal archives for July 2018

July 6, 2018

IUCN Global Mammal Assessment update

I just finished updating iNaturalist Mammal Taxonomy to the IUCN Global Mammal Assessment aside from the following 'explicit deviations' that we're currently making:

first, IUCN doesn't include 'domestic-only' species. But iNat has the following:
Equus caballus, Equus asinus, Canis familiaris, Felis catus, Bos taurus, Ovis aries, Capra hircus, Bubalus bubalis, Bos indicus, Lama glama, Vicugna pacos, Camelus dromedarius, Camelus bactrianus, Cavia porcellus

Also iNat has the following newly described species not yet in IUCN:
Monodelphis pinocchio, Monodelphis saci, Euroscaptor orlovi, Euroscaptor kuznetsovi, Gracilimus radix, Neusticomys vossi

The following are lumped in IUCN but split in iNat:

  1. Sciurus vulgaris in lieu of iNat's Sciurus meridionalis, Sciurus vulgaris
  2. Glaucomys sabrinus in lieu of iNat's Glaucomys sabrinus, Glaucomys oregonensis
  3. Ictidomys mexicanus in lieu of iNat's Ictidomys mexicanus, Ictidomys parvidens
  4. Otospermophilus beecheyi in lieu of iNat's Otospermophilus beecheyi, Otospermophilus atricapillus
  5. Thomomys umbrinus in lieu of iNat's Thomomys umbrinus, Thomomys sheldoni, Thomomys atrovarius
  6. Proechimys trinitatis in lieu of iNat's Proechimys urichi, Proechimys trinitatus
  7. Proechimys guairae in lieu of iNat's Proechimys poliopus, Proechimys guairae
  8. Clyomys laticeps in lieu of iNat's Clyomys bishopi, Clyomys laticeps
  9. Trinomys setosus in lieu of iNat's Trinomys myosuros, Trinomys setosus
  10. Lagidium viscacia in lieu of iNat's Lagidium peruanum, Lagidium viscacia
  11. Dasyprocta leporina in lieu of iNat's Dasyprocta cristata, Dasyprocta leporina
  12. Coendou quichua in lieu of iNat's Coendou rothschildi, Coendou quichua
  13. Heterogeomys lanius in lieu of iNat's Orthogeomys lanius
  14. Heterogeomys dariensis in lieu of iNat's Orthogeomys dariensis, Orthogeomys thaeleri
  15. Heterogeomys cherriei in lieu of iNat's Orthogeomys matagalpae, Orthogeomys cherriei
  16. Chaetodipus ammophilus in lieu of iNat's Chaetodipus dalquesti, Chaetodipus ammophilus
  17. Dipodomys merriami in lieu of iNat's Dipodomys merriami, Dipodomys insularis, Dipodomys margaritae
  18. Monodelphis glirina in lieu of iNat's Monodelphis maraxina, Monodelphis glirina
  19. Monodelphis scalops in lieu of iNat's Monodelphis theresa, Monodelphis scalops
  20. Monodelphis americana in lieu of iNat's Monodelphis rubida, Monodelphis americana, Monodelphis umbristriatus
  21. Thylamys cinderella in lieu of iNat's Thylamys sponsorius, Thylamys cinderella
  22. Chaetophractus vellerosus in lieu of iNat's Chaetophractus nationi, Chaetophractus vellerosus
  23. Loxodonta africana in lieu of iNat's Loxodonta cyclotis, Loxodonta africana
  24. Alces alces in lieu of iNat's Alces americanus, Alces alces
  25. Sminthopsis fuliginosus in lieu of iNat's Sminthopsis fuliginosus, Sminthopsis aitkeni
  26. Crocidura poensis in lieu of iNat's Crocidura fingui, Crocidura poensis
  27. Sorex antinorii in lieu of iNat's Sorex arunchi, Sorex antinorii
  28. Ochotona roylei in lieu of iNat's Ochotona roylei, Ochotona himalayana
  29. Ochotona dauurica in lieu of iNat's Ochotona dauurica, Ochotona huangensis
  30. Ochotona gloveri in lieu of iNat's Ochotona muliensis, Ochotona gloveri
  31. Ochotona forresti in lieu of iNat's Ochotona forresti, Ochotona nigritia, Ochotona gaoligongensis

The following are split in IUCN vs lumped in iNat:

  1. Urocitellus brunneus, Urocitellus endemicus in lieu of iNat's Urocitellus brunneus
  2. Hylobates muelleri, Hylobates abbotti, Hylobates funereus in lieu of iNat's Hylobates muelleri
  3. Lutreolina massoia, Lutreolina crassicaudata in lieu of iNat's Lutreolina crassicaudata
  4. Marmosops caucae, Marmosops impavidus in lieu of iNat's Marmosops impavidus
  5. Monodelphis peruviana, Monodelphis adusta in lieu of iNat's Monodelphis adusta
  6. Ochotona pallasii, Ochotona opaca in lieu of iNat's Ochotona pallasi
  7. Ochotona hyperborea, Ochotona coreana, Ochotona mantchurica in lieu of iNat's Ochotona hyperborea
  8. Pithecia chrysocephala, Pithecia pithecia in lieu of iNat's Pithecia pithecia #IUCN wants to split P. pithecia into P. pithecia and P. chrysocephala, but currently have just added P. chrysocephala with no range
  9. Cebus albifrons, Cebus cuscinus, Cebus aequatorialis, Cebus cesarae, Cebus malitiosus, Cebus versicolor in lieu of iNat's Cebus albifrons #IUCN wants to split C. albifrons into C. albifrons,cuscinus,aequatorialis,cesarae,malitiosus, & versicolor, but currently have just added the additional taxa with no ranges and not reassessed C. albifrons

1 to 1 swaps:

  1. Cebus brunneus in lieu of iNat's Cebus olivaceus #IUCN wants to split C. olivaceus into C. brunneus & C. olivaceus but currently have just pulled C. olivaceus (sensu lato) and just added C. brunneus with no range
  2. Pithecia milleri in lieu of iNat's Pithecia monachus #IUCN wants to split P. monachus into P. monachus,milleri,hirsuta,inusta,napensis,isabela, & cazuzai, but currently have just pulled P. monachus (sensu lato) and just added P. milleri with no range
  3. Pithecia vanzolinii in lieu of iNat's Pithecia irrorata #IUCN wants to split P. irrorata into P. vanzolinii,rylandsi,mittermeieri, & pissinattii, but currently have just pulled P. irrorata (sensu lato) and just added P. vanzolinii with no range
  4. Neotamias minimus in lieu of iNat's Tamias minimus
  5. Neotamias merriami in lieu of iNat's Tamias merriami
  6. Neotamias amoenus in lieu of iNat's Tamias amoenus
  7. Neotamias townsendii in lieu of iNat's Tamias townsendii
  8. Neotamias umbrinus in lieu of iNat's Tamias umbrinus
  9. Neotamias dorsalis in lieu of iNat's Tamias dorsalis
  10. Neotamias speciosus in lieu of iNat's Tamias speciosus
  11. Neotamias sonomae in lieu of iNat's Tamias sonomae
  12. Eutamias sibiricus in lieu of iNat's Tamias sibiricus
  13. Neotamias quadrimaculatus in lieu of iNat's Tamias quadrimaculatus
  14. Neotamias quadrivittatus in lieu of iNat's Tamias quadrivittatus
  15. Neotamias panamintinus in lieu of iNat's Tamias panamintinus
  16. Neotamias durangae in lieu of iNat's Tamias durangae
  17. Neotamias siskiyou in lieu of iNat's Tamias siskiyou
  18. Neotamias canipes in lieu of iNat's Tamias canipes
  19. Neotamias bulleri in lieu of iNat's Tamias bulleri
  20. Neotamias obscurus in lieu of iNat's Tamias obscurus
  21. Neotamias rufus in lieu of iNat's Tamias rufus
  22. Neotamias senex in lieu of iNat's Tamias senex
  23. Neotamias ruficaudus in lieu of iNat's Tamias ruficaudus
  24. Neotamias cinereicollis in lieu of iNat's Tamias cinereicollis
  25. Neotamias alpinus in lieu of iNat's Tamias alpinus
  26. Neotamias palmeri in lieu of iNat's Tamias palmeri
  27. Neotamias ochrogenys in lieu of iNat's Tamias ochrogenys
  28. Gyldenstolpia fronto in lieu of iNat's Kunsia fronto
  29. Tanyuromys aphrastus in lieu of iNat's Sigmodontomys aphrastus
  30. Otomys karoensis in lieu of iNat's Otomys saundersiae
  31. Gerbillus mackilligini in lieu of iNat's Gerbillus mackillingini
  32. Micaelamys namaquensis in lieu of iNat's Aethomys namaquensis
  33. Micaelamys granti in lieu of iNat's Aethomys granti
  34. Nannospalax ehrenbergi in lieu of iNat's Spalax ehrenbergi
  35. Nannospalax leucodon in lieu of iNat's Spalax leucodon
  36. Nannospalax xanthodon in lieu of iNat's Spalax nehringi
  37. Toromys rhipidurus in lieu of iNat's Makalata rhipidura
  38. Brassomys albidens in lieu of iNat's Coccymys albidens

These were mysteriously removed from IUCN for seemingly no good reason so I left them in (sometimes IUCN pulls an assessment while they're in the process of revising it):
Alouatta seniculus, Mico manicorensis, Cacajao melanocephalus, Cebus capucinus, Cercopithecus pogonias, Dipodomys ornatus

Lastly, bats is a total cluster @#$@ at the moment with the following IUCN bats not in iNat:
Dermanura anderseni, Dermanura azteca, Dermanura cinerea, Dermanura gnoma, Dermanura tolteca, Chaerephon aloysiisabaudiae, Chaerephon ansorgei, Chaerephon bemmeleni, Chaerephon bivittatus, Chaerephon bregullae, Chaerephon chapini, Chaerephon gallagheri, Chaerephon jobensis, Chaerephon johorensis, Chaerephon major, Chaerephon nigeriae, Chaerephon plicatus, Chaerephon pumilus, Chaerephon russatus, Chaerephon solomonis, Chaerephon tomensis, Diclidurus isabella, Hipposideros commersoni, Mops brachypterus, Mops condylurus, Mops congicus, Mops demonstrator, Mops midas, Mops mops, Mops nanulus, Mops niangarae, Mops niveiventer, Mops petersoni, Mops sarasinorum, Mops spurrelli, Mops thersites, Mops trevori, Hypsugo anthonyi, Pipistrellus hesperus, Hypsugo joffrei, Hypsugo kitcheneri, Hypsugo lophurus, Hypsugo macrotis, Pipistrellus subflavus, Rhogeessa alleni, Rousettus lanosus, Scotonycteris ophiodon, Austronomus australis, Mops leucostigma, Triaenops rufus, Neoromicia matroka, Nycticeinops schlieffeni, Hypsugo vordermanni, Lissonycteris angolensis, Hypsugo savii, Miniopterus africanus, Neoromicia brunnea, Neoromicia capensis, Neoromicia flavescens, Neoromicia guineensis, Neoromicia helios, Neoromicia melckorum, Neoromicia nana, Neoromicia rendalli, Neoromicia somalica, Neoromicia tenuipinnis, Neoromicia zuluensis, Austronomus kuboriensis, Natalus espiritosantensis, Dermanura rosenbergi, Neoromicia malagasyensis, Neoromicia robertsi, Neoromicia roseveari, Chaerephon atsinanana, Mops bakarii, Mormopterus lumsdenae, Mormopterus kitcheneri, Mormopterus halli, Mormopterus ridei, Mormopterus cobourgianus, Myotis nyctor, Rhinolophus xinanzhongguoensis, Dermanura glauca, Dermanura bogotensis, Dermanura phaeotis, Rhinolophus belligerator, Rhinolophus mcintyrei, Rhinolophus proconsulis, Rhinolophus tatar, Rhinolophus indorouxii, Rhinolophus microglobosus, Epomophorus minor, Scotophilus andrewreborii, Scotophilus ejetai, Scotophilus livingstonii, Scotophilus trujilloi, Murina bicolor, Murina gracilis, Murina recondita, Murina jaintiana, Murina pluvialis, Hypsugo bemainty, Otonycteris leucophaea, Myotis secundus, Myotis soror, Submyotodon latirostris, Myotis borneoensis, Myotis federatus, Myotis peytoni, Peropteryx pallidoptera, Cynomops milleri, Eumops wilsoni, Eumops nanus, Pteronotus mesoamericanus, Pteronotus rubiginosus, Molossus bondae, Promops davisoni, Chiroderma vizzotoi, Anoura cadenai, Artibeus schwartzi, Micronycteris buriri, Micronycteris giovanniae, Lophostoma occidentalis, Lonchophylla peracchii, Thyroptera wynneae, Eptesicus taddeii, Lasiurus salinae, Myotis diminutus, Myotis izecksohni, Myotis lavali, Rhogeessa bickhami, Rhogeessa menchuae, Rhogeessa velilla, Vampyrodes major, Sturnira burtonlimi, Sturnira koopmanhilli, Sturnira perla, Platyrrhinus incarum, Platyrrhinus angustirostris, Platyrrhinus aquilus, Platyrrhinus nitelinea, Neoromicia isabella, Dermanura watsoni

and the following iNat bats not in IUCN:
Pteropus pelewensis, Myotis phanluongi, Pipistrellus savii, Pipistrellus nanus, Pipistrellus rendalli, Pipistrellus capensis, Pipistrellus guineensis, Pipistrellus tenuipinnis, Pipistrellus brunneus, Pipistrellus zuluensis, Pipistrellus isabella, Pipistrellus somalicus, Pipistrellus roseveari, Pipistrellus stanleyi, Pipistrellus anthonyi, Eptesicus malagasyensis, Eptesicus matroka, Perimyotis subflavus, Parastrellus hesperus, Plecotus gaisleri, Pipistrellus lophurus, Pipistrellus kitcheneri, Pipistrellus joffrei, Pipistrellus macrotis, Pipistrellus vordermanni, Pipistrellus helios, Pipistrellus robertsi, Pipistrellus lanzai, Pipistrellus bemainty, Scotophilus alvenslebeni, Nycticeinops schlieffenii, Nyctophilus corbeni, Nyctophilus major, Glauconycteris atra, Tadarida australis, Tadarida pumila, Tadarida condylura, Tadarida nigeriae, Tadarida plicata, Tadarida thersites, Tadarida nanula, Tadarida jobensis, Tadarida ansorgei, Tadarida aloysiisabaudiae, Tadarida major, Tadarida demonstrator, Tadarida russata, Tadarida spurrelli, Tadarida bregullae, Tadarida leucostigma, Tadarida midas, Tadarida tomensis, Tadarida trevori, Tadarida chapini, Tadarida brachyptera, Tadarida bakarii, Baeodon alleni, Tadarida johorensis, Tadarida kuboriensis, Tadarida mops, Tadarida sarasinorum, Tadarida solomonis, Molossus barnesi, Harpiocephalus mordax, Tadarida bemmeleni, Tadarida bivittata, Tadarida congica, Tadarida gallagheri, Tadarida jobimena, Tadarida niangarae, Tadarida niveiventer, Tadarida petersoni, Tadarida atsinanana, Artibeus phaeotis, Artibeus watsoni, Artibeus aztecus, Artibeus toltecus, Miniopterus oceanensis, Artibeus cinereus, Natalus macrourus, Miniopterus mossambicus, Miniopterus fuliginosus, Miniopterus villiersi, Artibeus glaucus, Artibeus incomitatus, Artibeus rosenbergii, Lophostoma aequatorialis, Lophostoma yasuni, Artibeus anderseni, Sturnira thomasi, Artibeus gnomus, Pteropus yapensis, Pteropus argentatus, Pteropus brunneus, Diclidurus isabellus, Myonycteris angolensis, Stenonycteris lanosus, Scotonycteris bergmansi, Scotonycteris occidentalis, Casinycteris ophiodon, Dobsonia magna, Pteropus pilosus, Pteropus tokudae, Pteropus insularis, Rhinolophus geoffroyi, Rhinolophus willardi, Hipposideros commersonii, Hipposideros nicobarulae, Hipposideros cryptovalorona, Rhinolophus nippon, Rhinolophus mabuensis, Rhinolophus horaceki, Rhinolophus kahuzi, Triaenops menamena, Coelops hirsutus, Paracoelops megalotis

It would be fantastic if someone could do the work mapping between these two groups more explicitly.

As before, please flag any taxon that you find problematic (either because we're not making an exception and you think we should be, or because we are making an exception and you think we shouldn't be).

Also, thanks for bearing with me on process for discussing/updating mammal taxonomy. We were previously using this thread on my personal journal. But now that we have Collection Projects, it seems like it might be more appropriate to continue that thread in a project. I've created a Mammal Taxonomic Working Group project where we can make posts to discuss and relay updates related to Mammal taxonomy. Please follow the project if you want to receive these posts.

Also there's some discussion of transitioning from IUCN Global Mammal Assessment to the ASM list. If anyone wants to help, I think a mapping between IUCN and ASM would be hugely useful to figure out the degree and character of the difference between these taxonomic sources.

Thanks!

Posted on July 6, 2018 11:18 PM by loarie loarie | 53 comments | Leave a comment

July 11, 2018

Fiddler Crab Taxonomy

iNaturalist's policy is to follow WoRMs for marine species taxonomy. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a recent disruption of the familiar Fiddler Crab genus Uca.

Since curators had already begun swapping Fiddler Crab species with the new names in WoRMs, I've taken it upon myself to finish up these ongoing taxonomic changes in the interest of consistency. I have to note that I'm not really a supporter of these changes since our key source of Fiddler Crab expertise on iNaturalist @msr (aka the author of www.fiddlercrab.info) is not on board with them, but I'm just following the existing WoRMs policy and recommend that if we want to make an exception and deviate from WoRMs we should have that discussion first.

Nevertheless, to help alleviate all the confusion that these changes have precipitated, I thought I'd write this little post to try to explain them as best as I can. Traditionally, the Ghost and Fiddler Crab family Ocypodidae had three genera:

  1. the Ghost Crabs Ocypode (sometimes with one species split off as Hoplocypode)
  2. the Mangrove Ghost Crabs Ucides (2 American species sometimes placed in their own family Ucididae)
  3. the Fiddler Crabs as a single genus Uca (as on www.fiddlercrab.info)

This traditional treatment divides the genus up into 12 subgenera which can be coarsely grouped based on geography and morphology into the American Narrow-fronted Fiddler Crabs, the East Atlantic Fiddler Crabs, the Indo-west Pacific Narrow-fronted Fiddler Crabs, the American Broad-fronted Fiddler Crabs, and the Indo-west Pacific Broad-fronted Fiddler Crabs.

A 2016 study by Shih et al. found that the Fiddler Crabs were paraphyletic - that is the Ghost Crabs are nested within the Fiddler Crabs. Assuming their finding is correct, this means that in order ensure that our taxonomy reflects evolutionary history we must either lump Ghost Crabs into Fiddler Crabs or split Fiddler Crabs up. They opted to do the latter. Shih et al's approach was to elevate all the traditional Fiddler crab subgenera to generic status (except Australuca which they lumped into Tubuca). The Broad-fronted and Indo-west Pacific Narrow Fronted Fiddler Crabs were grouped into the family Gelasiminae and the American Narrow-fronted and East Atlantic Fiddler Crabs were grouped into the subfamily Ucinae (technically Shih and all put these in with Ghost Crab in the subfamily Ocypodinae but this is how WoRMs has it).

Unfortunately, a lot of observations on iNaturalist are just identified to the traditional genus Uca. Under these changes there is no longer a single node on the tree that can be used to pinpoint all fiddler crabs only. Our options are to identify them at the family level (Ocypodidae) which includes Ghost Crabs and Mangrove Ghost Crabs, or to identify them at the subfamily level which requires learning a bit more about Fiddler Crabs. Lets attempt to do that now.

Only in the Americas are both subfamilies present. The new narrower interpretation of Uca strictly refers to the American Narrow-fronts Fiddler Crabs (part of Ucinae) which as the common name suggests (these names come from Shih et al) have very narrow spaces between long eyestalks and look quite different from the American Broad-fronted Fiddler Crabs (part of Gelasiminae) in three genera with much broader spaces between relatively shorter eyestalks. Also helpful, for the most part only the Broad-fronted Fiddler Crabs make it as far north as the United States.

In the Eastern Atlantic its also very simple with the monotypic genus Afruca (part of Ucinae) being the only species present.

In the Indo-west Pacific only the subfamily Gelasiminae is present. But getting a handle on the genera is more complex. Shih et al name two groups present in the Indo-west Pacific: narrow-fronted and broad-fronted. But in my judgement the morphological differences between these groups of genera are much less pronounced than in the similarly named American groupings.

If you want to try your hand at identifying fiddler crabs 'lost' at the family level to subfamily or beyond here's some to play with.

I hope this helps. This is a very interesting group of crabs where there's a lot to be discovered and a group that naturalists tend to notice and observe. It would be a shame if the confusion caused by the WoRMs taxonomy changes made this group less accessible. I hope this post encourages everyone to take a little bit more time to at least learn the new subfamilies so we can continue to work together to document these cool little crabs.

Update: the 3 figures were updated to fix the labeling bug described by msr below

Posted on July 11, 2018 05:35 AM by loarie loarie | 3 comments | Leave a comment

July 12, 2018

Fiddler and Ghost Crabs added as a 'Complete taxon'

I expanded the purview of this project from just Fiddler crabs to the Fiddler and Ghost crab family Ocypodidae. Since iNaturalist's taxonomy for this group now matches WoRMs, I've locked this clade down by making it a Ocypodidae a 'complete taxon' with @msr and I as taxon curators for the group.

The WoRMs taxonomy includes 133 species in this clade:
26 Ghost Crabs (Ocypodinae)
2 Mangrove Ghost Crabs (Ucidinae)
105 Fiddler Crabs (Gelasiminae & Ucinae)

WoRMs fiddler crabs match http://www.fiddlercrab.info with the following discrepancies:
1) fiddlercrab.info uses Uca (sensu lato) and WoRMs uses Uca (sensu stricto) as I discussed in detail here
2) fiddlercrab.info lumps Tubuca australiae in with Tubuca (Uca) demani
3) fiddlercrab.info Leptuca panacea, L. pugilator, L. pygmaea, L. subcylindrica, L. thayeri, & L. umbratila in the Minuca group and Austruca sindensis in the Paraleptuca group
4) fiddlercrab.info treats (sub)genus Australuca as separate from Tubuca

WoRMs ghost crabs match Sakai and Türkay, 2013 with the following discrepancies:
1) Sakai and Türkay consider Ocypode occidentalis swapped with Hoplocypode occidentalis
2) Sakai and Türkay consider Ocypode longicornuta lumped with Ocypode ceratophthalmus
3) Sakai and Türkay consider Ocypode platytarsis lumped with Ocypode brevicornis
4) Sakai and Türkay consider Ocypode pygoides lumped with Ocypode convexa
5) Sakai and Türkay consider Ocypode sinensis lumped with Ocypode cordimana

Regarding the two species of Mangrove Ghost Crabs (Ucides), Ucides cordatus occurs on the Atlantic side and Ucides occidentalis occurs on the Pacific side of the American continent.

Update: Made the changes suggested by msr below

Posted on July 12, 2018 11:52 PM by loarie loarie | 2 comments | Leave a comment

July 13, 2018

A new home for bird related discussions

iNaturalist continues to use Clements as its taxonomic reference. @maxkirsch and I spent quite a bit of time earlier this week brining iNat inline with the last August 2017 Clements update, and there haven't been any updates since. As with other 'Compete' taxa, I made project for this working group so we can discuss bird related curation issues. (A conversation I started on my personal journal here.

There continue to be lots of unresolved flags for birds. If folks want to help resolve them they are:
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/802 Pipilo erythrophthalmus the range is still the old, pre P. maculatus range. Needs a split.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/2175 Gyps fulvus distribution map needs to be updated: thanks to reintroductions griffons are fairly easy to spot in Central Italy mountains, sure it's easier to see these birds there than in Sardinia even if this island is in the "official" map
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/2901 Branta canadensis the range of this species should be extended to reflect the very common feral population in Europe
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/2914 Terpsiphone rufiventer range map only shows Annobon
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/3029 Melaniparus leucomelas distribution map is that of a different species, see map on IUCN Red List: http://maps.iucnredlist.org/map.html?id=22711825
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/3324 Philemon buceroides either has its range switched with Philemon novaeguineae, or is just missing the (very large) Australian part of its range
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/8087 Aramus guarauna El rango de distribución debe extenderse, ya que hay registros de la especie en Jalisco, Colima y Nayarit y me marca una advertencia como "fuera del rango de distribución". Ver http://huitzil.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/HUITZIL-2006-7123-26.pdf
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/5865 Burhinus indicus the range includes that of Burhinus oedicnemus
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/6833 Falco naumanni range map seems to be incomplete and should be re-imported: http://maps.iucnredlist.org/map.html?id=22696357
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/7415 Ptilopsis leucotis range map is that of the white-faced owl before taxonomic split: http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/144591-Ptilopsis-leucotis#taxon_range
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/19220 Eudyptula minor this widespread species has its official range as only being the Chatham Islands. Perhaps a mixup with ssp. chathamensis data?
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/24047 Erythrura psittacea range map is wrong: doesn't occur on Vanuatu
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/24111 Saxicola torquatus the range still includes that of the split Saxicola rubicola
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/36186 Egretta tricolor se encontro en la ciudad de cartagena.

https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/31233 Tringa glareola range map is wrong
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/48667 Apteryx mantelli could someone download the current BirdLife map for this species? the old BirdLife map (which is still showing up on iNat) includes the range of A. rowi
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/49581 Surniculus lugubris Surniculus velutinus split off in Clements so the range is now wrong
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/71256 Branta hutchinsii the range map could use a reality check
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/71718 Anas acuta range show only its North American distribution
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/78604 Trochilidae aparece en el orden de los CAPRIMULGIFORMES
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/78608 Caprimulgiformes no se ha dividido en los tres ordenes, que son ahora CAPRIMULGGIFORMES, STEATORNITHIFORMES Y NYCTIBIIFORMES http://americanornithologypubs.org/doi/pdf/10.1642/AUK-16-77.1?code=coop-site
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/78907 Cyanistes varius now in Sittiparus in Clements, but the EOL source for this taxon is S. varius sensu lato, which Clements split in 2016; what should this be swapped into - the genus Sittiparus, or the now-inactive pre-split S. varius?
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/86143 Branta canadensis Range map updated needed. All Ontario south of 45 degrees latitude should be shown as in range.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/80345 Falco tinnunculus the map layer of the distribution does not perfectly overlap with the basemap (different coordinate system?) leaving several uncoverd areas
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/80941 Selasphorus "Rufous/Allen's" is a taxonomically valid and useful subcategory of this genus and should be restored PERMANENTLY.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/88106 Phalacrocorax auritus The range map is very incorrect, at least for Ontario!
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/101598 Pterocliformes it was swapped in the wrong direction - see comment on taxon change 22773
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/101677 Toxostoma curvirostre Me parece que el nombre es Cuitlacoche, no Cuicacoche
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/102680 Icterus galbula map is for Baltimore + Bullock's
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/106918 Prunella montanella something's very wrong with the range map
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/110888 Anas clypeata range map wrong
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/138926 Dinornithiformes it should be active, with conservation status set to extinct
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/133952 Pica pica please add an "introduced tag" to eurasian magpie observation in Taiwan. They are not native to the island. Instead, they were introduced here in the Qing dynasty.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/133961 Tinamus major zuliensis is it possible to remove a range map?
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/216011 Scytalopus latrans deseo confirmar
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/213934 Anser anser × branta canadensis it's more likely domestic goose hybrid (Anser anser domesticus × Branta canadensis) in most cases, especially outside wild Greylag Goose range
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/142873 Larus canus It makes far more sense to set the default name as that of the nominate subspecies, rather than a non-nominate subspecies which is likely to be split as a separate species in the near future.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/216213 Junco hyemalis oreganus I'm confused by the way subspecies on this and a few other species are treated in iNat. Clement's recognizes a bunch of subspecies that aren't options in iNat.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/216162 Anas platyrhynchos domesticus May I suggest changing the common name of this taxon in English to 'Domestic Mallard'? I think Domestic Duck is confusing because at least one other duck species is also domesticated and many others are kept in captivity.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/216215 Junco hyemalis oreganus If I understand correctly, iNat does not allow polytypic groups as taxons.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/216267 Passerella iliaca There are several subspecies missing from the taxon tree, and the common names as is are confusing.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/147465 Quiscalus lugubris Hay que replantear la distribución que aparece en el mapa de esta especie.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/215545 Rissa tridactyla the new range map omits much of the breeding and wintering range of the species worldwide
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/218219 Acanthis flammea flammea Can a European birder confirm that the name Mealy Redpoll usually and most appropriately applies specifically to the subspecies, and NOT to Carduelis flammea as a whole?
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/211166 Glareola pratincola how do i ad the israel red datta book to the authority list in order to change conservation status ?
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/211223 Aythya collaris × marila Need a taxon for Ring-necked Duck x Greater/Lesser Scaup
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/211234 Setophaga dominica albilora TLDR version: albilora is no longer recognized as a subspecies due to recent molecular and morphological work.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/211439 Platycercus elegans adelaidae Not a valid subspecies name. Cannot be neatly swapped with another subspecies as the 'Adelaide Rosella' pop is a hybrid swarm. Ideally the name should be deleted but a swap with Platycercus elegans (without subspecies epithet) the most pragmatic solution
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/219189 Torgos tracheliotos please add the nominotypical subspecies
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/219201 Columba larvata please add the nominotypical subspecies
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/219262 Notopholia corrusca please add the nominotypical subspecies
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/224305 Junco hyemalis its several Oregon subspecies use hybrid-lexicon English+scientific names misplaced in the English lexicon.
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/225569 Phyllastrephus leucolepis Lump with Icterine greenbul https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10336-017-1477-0
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/246018 Megascops gilesi Why is inactive this taxa?
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/249176 Turdus merula Map needs updating to remove areas relevant to recently split Turdus mandarinus, T. maximus, T. simillimus

Posted on July 13, 2018 08:00 PM by loarie loarie | 20 comments | Leave a comment

July 17, 2018

Callicorini Taxonomy

The Callicorini Tribe (Eighty-eights and Relatives) in the Subfamily Biblidinae (Tropical Brushfoots) in the Family Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies) is endemic to North and South America. We treat this tribe as having 9 visually distinctive genera. iNaturalist generally follows Warren, A. D., K. J. Davis, E. M. Stangeland, J. P. Pelham & N. V. Grishin. 2013. Illustrated Lists of American Butterflies for New World Butterfly taxonomy. But there are a few areas where the Illustrated Lists of American Butterflies is out of step with most other sources and complicates identification, so we're making a few exceptions.

Originally many of the genera in Callicorini were lumped in the genus "Catagramma". Illustrated Lists of American Butterflies seems to have only partially split this genus up. What they leave in "Catagramma" the Tree of Life Web Project and Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life distribute among Callicore and a monotypic Paulogramma. While these two genera are similar Learn About Butterflies has a good tip for distinguishing these genera (which I echoed here).

Tree of Life Web Project and Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life also differ from Illustrated Lists of American Butterflies by spliting off the monotypic Catacore kolyma from the rest of Diaethria. To me, Catacore looks midway between Diaethria and Callicore as you can see here.

The two Mesotaenia species have spots, the many Perisama species usually don't. When Perisama have spots, there are 5 rather than 6 as in Mesotaenia as described here.

This group is famous for the 'eighty-eights' based on the finely marked patterns on the hind-underwings that spell out 88. But the remaining genera: Orophila,Haematera, and Antigonis, don't have any finely marked patterns on their underwings. Pictures of the monotypic Antigonis can be found here

We are sticking with Illustrated Lists of American Butterflies in elevating Diaethria asteria to species status distinct from Diaethria astala, mainly because thats how its been on iNat and alot of people have observed both of these species.

Perisama is a diverse genus with lots of newly described species coming out. We're going with Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life because it includes alot of species not in these other sources. We're also including Perisama arhoda which isn't in any of these sources because its recognized by the Humboldt Institution as described here.

Posted on July 17, 2018 05:29 AM by loarie loarie | 0 comments | Leave a comment

July 22, 2018

Denmark Mothing

We kicked off National Moth Week with a great night mothing with my hosts for the GBIC2 conference @dhobern, @dschigel, and @kcopas here in Denmark. I credit dhobern with getting me into moths back in 2013 during one of his visits to CA, so it was nice to do a repeat 5 years later! Here's what we saw.






Posted on July 22, 2018 09:54 AM by loarie loarie | 2 comments | Leave a comment

July 29, 2018

Identification tips: Armadillidae vs. Armadillidiidae

One of the best characters for identifying Isopods like Woodlice are the 'pointy butt parts' (uropods). They are made up of a 'stalk' (protopod) with two 'branches' (the endopod and exopod). Woodlice with pointy butts have uropods that extend past the 'butt end' (telson)

Most woodlice without pointy butts (ie those with uropods that don't extend out past the telson) belong two two families - the very similarly named Armadillidae and Armadillidiidae.

The Armadillidiidae includes the ubiquitous Common Pill Bug (Armadillium vulgare). The Armadillium genus has been introduced around the world and make up >1/3 of all the Woodlice observations on iNaturalist at the moment.

The other family (the Armadillidae) is much less common in North America and Europe where it is generally represented by a few rare and localized species (e.g. Armadillio in Europe and Venezillo in North America). There are a few widespread marine species like Cubaris which occur in Hawaii and Florida. And in other parts of the world like New Zealand the Armadillidae are extremely diverse and common.

While these two families can superficially look remarkably similar (definitely a striking examples of convergent evolution), the structure and arrangement of the uropods relative to the telson is actually quite distinct.

In Armadillidiidae, looking from the top down (dorsal view) the telson (orange) is trapezoidal shaped and the visible parts of the uropods are the exopods (yellow). The other parts of the uropods (pink and green) aren't visible from this dorsal view.

In Armadillidae, looking from the top down (dorsal view) the telson (orange) is hourglass shaped and the visible parts of the uropods are the protopods (pink). The exopods (yellow) are minute if visible at all.

In summary, if you are unsure whether you have Armadillidiidae or Armadillidae, make sure you get a picture of the butt end from the top down (dorsal view) to see whether the telson (orange) is trapezoidal (Armadillium etc.) or hourglass (Armadillio, Venezillo etc.) shaped, and whether the largge visible parts of the uropods are the exopods (yellow) (Armadillium etc.) or the protopods (pink) (Armadillio, Venezillo etc.).

Posted on July 29, 2018 04:38 PM by loarie loarie | 5 comments | Leave a comment