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HMW Handbook of the Mammals of the World (2 Viewers)

147? My head count yesterday for a research statement for a job application was 130 currently recognized species of marine mammal, although that includes Polar Bear, a couple of lutrines, and some historically extinct species like Sea Mink.

So that means that besides the river dolphin splits, there are a further 15 splits or historically recognized species not currently recognized by the most recent version of the marine mammal checklist I was examining. I'd love it if someone could send me the new list or post it here!
 
147? My head count yesterday for a research statement for a job application was 130 currently recognized species of marine mammal, although that includes Polar Bear, a couple of lutrines, and some historically extinct species like Sea Mink!
Fwiw, Shirihai & Jarrett 2006 recognises 126 extant species/allospecies within the families included in HMW 4.
 
Are there family distribuition maps in the family sections? Those may count in the headline 147? I can't check at the moment.

cheers, a
 
Fwiw, Shirihai & Jarrett 2006 recognises 126 extant species/allospecies within the families included in HMW 4.

hhhmm...that would make sense since I didn't consider family distribution pictures. My count of 130 would have included Sea Mink, Sea Otter, Marine Otter, and Polar Bear. Excluding those would result in 126 species.
 
So that means that besides the river dolphin splits, there are a further 15 splits or historically recognized species not currently recognized by the most recent version of the marine mammal checklist I was examining. I'd love it if someone could send me the new list or post it here!

There are many beaked whale taxa which were previously not recognized, e.g. Mesoplodon hotaula
 
Finally got my copy today. Splendid indeed.

At first, it looked like it was a bit on the thin side. But comparing it with a HBW volume of also about 600 pages, I realized that Lynx has apparently used thinner paper for the HMW series. HMW Vol 3 that looked about the size of that 600 page HBW volume actually has around 900 pages.

So now, we are in for a long wait? Hope Lynx can speed up the publication schedule. They had managed that in the HBW series too.
 
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The team at HMW is now looking for marsupial photos for the next volume. They are particularly (but not exclusively) after photos of Neotropical species. See the mammalwatching.com weblog page.
 
My issue is that Monachus is monophyletic, and generally monk seals are a pretty coherent group that are united based on shared ecology, behavior, and morphology. There really wasn't a reason to split off Neomonachus, especially since the main reasons (genetic divergence, date of divergence) are some what controversial measure of generic "distinctiveness".

As a marine mammal biologist, I find Monachus to be a more useful as an inclusive clade, not as a monotypic lineage.
 
Sousa sahulensis (Australian humpback dolphin) welcomes to the scientific world

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140801125052.htm

I hope that there will be a HMW New Species volume anytime.

I am also curious about the rodents, insectivores, and bat volumes. I've recently bought Kingdon's Mammals of Africa (released early 2013) but if you take a look in recent scientific papers you can see that the number of African bats, sengis, and rodents has been increased extraordinary in the past one and a half years. And I am curious whether the mysterious Danakil wolf from Eritrea will ever got a scientific description.
 
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Great news about the Australian humpback dolphin, have had great encounters with small pods whilst surveying shorebirds in the Gulf of Carpentaria. They are reasonably easy to find off Cairns and Townsville as well.

Also, aim pretty sure that the "Danakil wolf" is not an undescribed species, it looks like an African wolf (Canis lupus lupaster) to me.
 
Is there a photo of the Australian humpback dolphin in HMW 4 (as some photos of this species were already published last year)?
 
I am curious about the bat and rodent volumes because...those will have to cover a TON of species. I don't see how you can cover those species in anywhere the same detail as they covered whales or carnivores.
 
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