Handbook of the Mammals of the World

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I just got an email from Lynx Edicions that volume 6 has been pushed back.

Although we did our utmost to try to ensure publication in June, the work on Volume 6 has proven to be more complex than the previous volumes. Lagomorphs and Rodents are challenging groups, not only due to the large number of species (which is why rodents are split into two volumes), but also to the lack of information on many of these. For the first time all the rodent species worldwide are treated, including many that are little known. It has sometimes been difficult to gather photographs and information about important aspects of their biology, and additional issues are presented by the existence of groups of extraordinary complexity and unresolved taxonomy.

Due to these complexities, the current volume has suffered a slight delay and we would like to inform you that the new publication date is late July (with distribution in August/September).
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Got the same email this morning. Oh well, it's not the end of the world.

:p

Hix
 
For anyone that has ordered these volumes in the United States: about how long did it take to get to you? I'm ordering a few of the volumes this week and I am so excited to receive them!
 
Hix said:
bongorob said:
I'm also concerned about the volumes for bats and rodents. If every species is illustrated I dread to think how large the volumes will be.
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Or how small the illustrations will be ....

:)

Hix
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Having received Vol 6 today, I can report that, despite having now split rodents over two volumes, this volume is still the thickest in the series so far (just shy of 1000 pages).

I'm now considering a temporary gym membership in order to facilitate getting it to and from the bookshelf without straining! :D

And no need to worry about illustration size (or, indeed, quality - with Toni Llobet once again doing a fine job).
 
The Lynx website advises that Volume 7 will be published in September. The special discount price is available until 31 August.
 
They are an amazing series! My favorite is volume 2 (Hoofed Mammals). The quality of the illustrations is incredible! I never get bored reading them.
 
Just saw on their website that Volume 7 has been pushed back until late October and the pre-publication offer extended until September 30th. I'm so disappointed :(
 
The pre-publication offer for Volume 7 extended today until October 31st and the publication of the book is expected to be at late November!
 
An update about the Volume 7 and some changes for whoever hasn't noticed them:
  • The pre-publication offer expired at October 31st and the book is still to be published at late November, so, fortunately, there are no more delays.
Now, some editorial (and I hope no serious or frustrating to the whole text thoroughness and photo/illustrations quality and size) changes:
  • The number of plates has changed from 62 to 58! Not such a big reduction but it could still affect the size of illustrations.
  • The number of photos is around a hundred less (from c. 400 to c. 300).
  • The number of species is now 1744 instead of 1749 (I don't think that it's a problem though, because the number of included rodent species has increased at +100 at least in the time between publication of Volume 6 and Volume 7)
  • Also, for the first time in the series, there are different authors for the family text and species accounts for two of the families, Muridae and Cricetidae. (This is probably because of the vast number of species involved and could have also happened in some previous volume and just not mentioned).
I don't believe that those are such serious changes (except maybe for the number of plates), but they should probably be mentioned. Talking about the number of plates though, I am a bit worried about the size of illustrations. The first 8 plates are already given as samples (the 9th, Zapodidae, will have around 5 species so they surely will be good-sized) and their illustrations are good-sized. Now, if we assume that the rest 49 plates have equal number of species each, then this number will be around 32 sp./plate, a relatively large number of species in each one, something that surely will affect their size. Let's just hope that they will be, in terms of size, more like the 33 animals in the first plate of the nesomyids, which are good-sized, and not like the dendromyids of the second plate (although, have in mind that they are depicted along with the enormous -for a myomorph, pouched-rats).
 
CatDog said:
The first 8 plates are already given as samples (the 9th, Zapodidae, will have around 5 species so they surely will be good-sized) and their illustrations are good-sized. Now, if we assume that the rest 49 plates have equal number of species each, then this number will be around 32 sp./plate, a relatively large number of species in each one, something that surely will affect their size. Let's just hope that they will be, in terms of size, more like the 33 animals in the first plate of the nesomyids, which are good-sized, and not like the dendromyids of the second plate (although, have in mind that they are depicted along with the enormous -for a myomorph, pouched-rats).
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For those interested, sample pages including some of the plates may be seen here: Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 7 | Lynx Edicions
 
HMW is looking for photos for their next volume (a bit of a grab-bag of insectivorous mammals, including xenarthrans, tree-shrews, tenrecs, hedgehogs, etc, and also colugos).

I saw this on Mammal Watching, where it was specified they were (urgently!) after photos of colugos, pen-tailed tree-shrews, solenodons, golden moles and otter shrews, as well as shrews of the genera Ruwenzorisorex, Sylvisorex, Scutisorex and Paracrocidura.

So if anyone has any...

I know @Zooish has some great photos of colugos in the gallery, and I think @gentle lemur has an old solenodon photo which may be of interest (?).
 
Chlidonias said:
I know @Zooish has some great photos of colugos in the gallery, and I think @gentle lemur has an old solenodon photo which may be of interest (?).
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I wish that were true :(
I have a vivid memory of the Hispaniolan solenodon that I saw in Frankfurt in 1973, but I didn't even attempt a photo. I had a very limited quantity of Ektachrome-X film for uprating to 500 ASA/ISO and I had already taken photos of the banded linsang, grey-necked Picathartes and the tarsier a couple of exhibits before the solenodon. The enclosure was very dark and the solenodon was waddling around without a pause. I had to be careful because I particularly wanted to get some pictures of the gorillas and bonobos, and I had to keep some film for Cologne, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp. So I moved on and missed my chance . . . .
 
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