The Taxonomy Thread

What's the current validity of the subspecies of African lion? Has there been any splitting or lumping of the big cats in any recent mainstream scientific literature? Also, I'd like to know the classification of sheep in relation to the urials and mouflons because Wikipedia's being inconsistent.
 
Revision of Phascogale taxonomy:

"Taxonomic revision of Phascogale tapoatafa (Meyer, 1793) (Dasyuridae; Marsupialia), including descriptions of two new subspecies and confirmation of P. pirata Thomas, 1904 as a ‘Top End’ endemic."
APLIN, RHIND, TEN HAVE & CHESSER.
Zootaxa 4055 (1): 001–073.
 
A revision of lasiurine bats:

Abstract: This study reports the phylogenetic relationships of 13 species of lasiurine bats using 4 loci from mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal DNA. Our results support a sister taxon relationship between the red and hoary bats, with the yellow bats being more distantly related. Several taxonomic revisions are suggested based on the results of this study. We support the recognition of 3 separate genera: Lasiurus (red bats), Dasypterus (yellow bats), and Aeorestes (hoary bats, including A. egregius which groups more closely to the hoary bats than its traditional placement with the red bats). We recognize L. frantzii as a distinct species and recognize L. blossevillii salinae as a subspecies rather than species. We elevate 3 previously recognized subspecies of A. cinereus to specific status. The phylogeography of the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat is studied in detail, and hoary bats are found to have undergone multiple invasions of the Hawaiian Islands from North America over its evolutionary history. We also report the presence of 2 species of Aeorestes on the Hawaiian Islands where only one previously had been known.

Ref. 'Molecular Systematic Revision of Tree Bats (Lasiurini): Doubling the Native Mammals of the Hawaiian Islands.' Baird et al., 2015
Journal of Mammalogy 96(6):1255-1274
 
A shake-up of the recognised species of mossy frogs (Theloderma):

Ref. Sorting out Moss Frogs: mtDNA Data on Taxonomic Diversity and Phylogenetic Relationships of the Indochinese Species of the Genus Theloderma (Anura, Rhacophoridae).
Poyarkov Jr NA et al., 2015
Russian Journal of Herpetology 22: 241-280.

Abstract: We discuss phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic diversity of the rhacophorid frogs of the genus Theloderma in sight of the novel phylogenetic data obtained from the Bayesian analysis of the up to 1987 bp length fragment of mtDNA (12S rRNA, tRNAval, and 16S rRNA) from the 90 specimens of 21 nominal species of Theloderma and 3 species of Nyctixalus. Our data suggest monophyly of the tribe Nyctixalini, including Th. moloch, and indicate deep divergence between the three major clades: Th. horridum + Th. stellatum group, Nyctixalus and the rest of the Theloderma species (Theloderma sensu stricto). We establish new subgenus Stelladerma subgen. nov. for Th. horridum + Th. stellatum group and discuss provisional taxonomy of Nyctixalini. We also indicate that the taxonomic status of the certain Indochinese Theloderma requires reassessment. In particular, our data suggest deep divergence between Malayan and Indochinese taxa of Th. asperum group and indicate non-monophyly of Th. asperum sensu lato; we resurrect the name Th. albopunctatum (Liu et Hu, 1962) for the Indochinese species. We provide molecular evidence for synonimization of Th. chuyangsinense Orlov et al., 2012 with Th. palliatum Rowley et al., 2011; as well as morphological and genetic evidence for syninomization of Th. bambusicola Orlov et al., 2012 with Th. laeve (Smith, 1924). We indicate a deep morphological and genetic differentiation within the Th. truongsonense (Orlov et Ho, 2005) complex. Finally, we report on the deep divergence within Th. stellatum Taylor, 1962 from eastern Thailand, southern Cambodia, and Vietnam, and describe a new species, Theloderma vietnamense sp. nov., based on morphological, acoustic and genetic lines of evidence.
 
I recently finished reading the book The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names which I found extremely interesting. It isn't just the history of them, but the book goes into all sorts of details about scientific/latin names and it's quite funny as well as very interesting.

I thought I would recommend it here because anyone who is interested in clicking on this thread would certainly be interested in reading the book.
I bought my copy from the Natural History Museum in London, however, it appears to be reasonably cheap on Amazon.
 
LaughingDove said:
I recently finished reading the book The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names which I found extremely interesting. It isn't just the history of them, but the book goes into all sorts of details about scientific/latin names and it's quite funny as well as very interesting.
Click to expand...
you'd probably be interested in this website too, if you haven't already seen it: Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
 
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