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13-Jun-25,,
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Tabs,Columns,Explanation
MDD_Current,,Current species-level listing for the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD)
,sciName,"unique combination of taxonomic genus and specific epithet with an underscore connecting them to be used in the MDD.  Uses formula to fill cell from the 'genus' and 'specificEpithet' columns, DO NOT EDIT MANUALLY"
,id,"unique identification number used for indexing and permalinking; initially numbered (14 Sep 2020) as counting up from 1000001 when sorting by phylosort, suborder, infraorder... genus, speciesEpithet; subsequent numbering will be added from 1006485 and up"
,phylosort,"sort the 27 extant orders of mammals according to their phylogenetic hierarchy, following Figure 1 in the Introduction of Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (2020)"
,mainCommonName,"primary common name in the format used in the Handbook of the Mammals of the World series; all words capitalized unless it is the preceeding words in a hyphenated word; any 'and' statements in names are hyphenated (e.g., Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur) whereas directional names are not (Southwestern Myotis); consistency is attempted throughout a genus in terms of unique name and names based on the genus are typically avoided, although not exclusively (e.g., all Crocidura with the name 'White-toothed Shrew'; the use of White-bellied Rat instead of Niviventer as the common name for the genus Niviventer); the name is the most broadly encompasing named to avoid confusion when possible (e.g., the use of Wapiti for Cervus canadensis rather than 'Elk', which is also used for Alces alces in Europe)"
,otherCommonNames,other common names that have been used for the species as identified in literature; all names are separated by pipes (|) and follow the same format listed under 'mainCommonName'; these are usually restricted to English common names but common names from other languages are occassionally included when the name is widely used
,subclass,"taxonomic infraclass (if applicable); if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell"
,infraclass,"taxonomic infraclass (if applicable); if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell"
,magnorder,"taxonomic magnorder (if applicable); if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell"
,superorder,"taxonomic superorder (if applicable); if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell"
,order,taxonomic order; all taxa are included in an order
,suborder,"taxonomic suborder (if applicable), if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell; incertae sedis is listed for taxa that are not assigned to a specific suborder when suborders are used in the order it is included under"
,infraorder,"taxonomic parvorder (if applicable), if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell; incertae sedis is listed for taxa that are not assigned to a specific parvorder when parvorders are used in the order it is included under"
,parvorder,"taxonomic infraorder (if applicable), if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell; incertae sedis is listed for taxa that are not assigned to a specific infraorder when infraorders are used in the order it is included under"
,superfamily,"taxonomic superfamily (if applicable), if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell; incertae sedis is listed for taxa that are not assigned to a specific superfamily when superfamilies are used in the order it is included under"
,family,taxonomic family; all taxa are included in a family
,subfamily,"taxonomic subfamily (if applicable), if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell; incertae sedis is listed for taxa that are not assigned to a specific subfamily when subfamilies are used in the family it is included under"
,tribe,"taxonomic tribe (if applicable), if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell; incertae sedis is listed for taxa that are not assigned to a specific tribe when tribes are used in the family it is included under"
,subtribe,"taxonomic subtribe (if applicable), if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell; incertae sedis is listed for taxa that are not assigned to a specific tribe when tribes are used in the family it is included under"
,genus,"taxonomic genus, all taxa are included in a genus"
,subgenus,"taxonomic subgenus (if applicable), if not applicable, NA is listed in the cell; incertae sedis is listed for taxa that are not assigned to a specific subgenus when subgenera are used in the genus it is included under"
,specificEpithet,taxonomic species epithet
,authoritySpeciesAuthor,"species authority: author last name(s) that first described the species as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet, following typical guidelines for format with specifics listed here; all authors on the author line of the publication in which the species is described are included; a comma is presented after the second to last name if there are more than two authors (e.g., S. E. Pavan, Mendes-Oliveira, & Voss); if the volume was described in a book or journal article with a differing set of editors/authors in the author line, an 'in' statement is used after the initial authors, followed by the editors/authors of the primary text (e.g., D. J. Kitchener in D. J. Kitchener & Maryanto); when two authors share the same surname, the initials are added before the surname in both cases, and if they share the same initials, then the middle name is also written out (e.g. J. A. Allen and G. M. Allen); for names of Chinese, Korean, and Indochinese origin, the full name is writen out with the surname put first and hyphens removed to match the format typically given in Chinese publication (e.g., Kuo Haochih, Fang Yinping, Csorba, & Lee Lingling)"
,authoritySpeciesYear,species authority: year that author first described the species as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet
,authorityParentheses,0 for no parentheses around authority; 1 for parentheses around authority; values are based on the genus the species was included under in the original name combination as compared to the current genus name
,originalNameCombination,the name combination for each species as it appears in the original description as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet
,authoritySpeciesCitation,"full or abbreviated literature citation of the authority publication as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet; if the citation has been verified through obtaining a PDF of the original description or by seeing a physical copy of the volume, the citation will be in standardized APA format, otherwise, the citation may be in an abbreviated citation based on the source that the citation was originally found in"
,authoritySpeciesLink,"hyperlink to the original description publication listed under the 'authoritySpeciesCitation' column or the journals page for the abstract for publications without open access, as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet; if a link is available to the exact page of the publication in resources such as the Biodiversity Heritage Library, those are preferentially included here over links to the publication itself, but if no exact page link is available, a link is presented to the publication itself (with newer publications including the DOI associated with them)"
,typeVoucher,"museum number of the type series as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet; this data is gleaned from museum databases or the original describing publication; this field specifically includes holotypes, syntypes, lectotypes, and neotypes, with multiple syntypes being included when applicable; this and the typeKind field are blank when no type material has been verified by the MDD, but if there is verifiably no type material for a name, this field is left blank but the typeKind field includes the label 'nonexistent'"
,typeKind,"the specific kind of type specimen listed in the typeVoucher column as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet; populated with holotype, syntypes, lectotype, neotype, and nonexistent; this field is left blank if the existence of type material for this species hasn't been verified, but if the MDD team has verified that there is no existing type material for this species, this field is labeled with 'nonexistent'"
,typeVoucherURIs,"link(s) to the type material in external website(s), such as the hosting museum collection, as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet"
,typeLocality,"geographic locality of where the holotype was collected or observed; as published with edited place names in CMW 2020 (which includes type locality restrictions and citations following the original type locality), then updated to the currently recognized taxonomy; this field does not currently match the type locality data presented in the Species_Syn_Current datasheet since the MDD team has not yet standardized a specific format by which type localities are presented, thus, this field represents a standardized format that does not match the original description of the name's type locality"
,typeLocalityLatitude,"geographic locality of the type specimen as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet, latitude in decimal degrees; sourced initial from the original description of the name of by georeferencing the name through web searches of the locality, or by using geolocation web services, such as GeoLocate"
,typeLocalityLongitude,"geographic locality of the type specimen as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet, longitude in decimal degrees; sourced initial from the original description of the name of by georeferencing the name through web searches of the locality, or by using geolocation web services, such as GeoLocate"
,nominalNames,"all available and unvailablie specific epithets that aren't name combinations included under the current definition of the pertinent species including the authority and year with a comma and in parentheses when originally named in a different genus (O. Thomas, 1900) as sourced from the Species_Syn_Current sheet; if a name is unavailable for any reason, the reason the name is unavailable is listed in brackets following the authority ; also noted are changes to gender if the gender of the name is changed to match the genus in which the species occurs"
,taxonomyNotes,notes by MDD staff upon making taxonomic changes -- separated by semicolons (;)
,taxonomyNotesCitation,evidence citation backing up the changes made in the taxonomyNotes column by MDD staff; separated by pipes (|); citations are generally in APA format
,distributionNotes,"more detailed distributional notes than the subregional, country, and continental distribution columns, including notes on the recently introduced populations of the species; includes abbreviations for various cardinal directions and landmarks: mountain/mountains = Mt/Mts, island/islands = I/Is, North = N, South = S, East = E, West = W, Central = C; cardinal directions can be combined to indicate intermediate directions (e.g., Northwest = NW); THIS FIELD IS FOR FUTURE USE AND IS NOT CURRENTLY BEING CURATED"
,distributionNotesCitation,"evidence citation backing up the changes in the distributionNotes column by MDD staff, separated by pipes (|); THIS FIELD IS FOR FUTURE USE AND IS NOT CURRENTLY BEING CURATED"
,subregionDistribution,"each subregion with larger countries in which the species is extanct or reintroduced into its native distribution is listed; subregions will be groups within parentheses following the country in which they are a part of and separated by commas (,); countries will be separated by pipes (|) (e.g., USA(VA,MD,ID)|China(...)...); subregions in which the species is uncertainly present or possibly extinct are listed with a question mark (?) following the subregion; subregions will be abbreviated based on standard two or three digit codes defined within each country; for the United States, state codes follow the standard ANSI codes; this field currently only includes US states, but future iterations are planned to include subregions for most countries"
,countryDistribution,"each country in which the species is extant or reintroduced into its native distribution is listed and separated by pipes (|); only the species native distribution or ancient introductions (before the year 1500 CE) are included, whereas subjectively recently introduced populations in different countries are not included; countries in which the species is uncertainly present or possibly extinct are listed with a question mark (?) following the country; domestic species are listed as ""Domesticated""; for fully extinct species, the distribution reflects the species distribution after the year 1500 CE; for marine species, the countries in which the species is found along the coastline or in inland rivers are listed; when an 'and' is present within the countries name, it is listed using the ampersand (&); dependencies are listed when geographically distant from there dependent country (see list below for specific examples); see Distribution_List for place names in this field"
,continentDistribution,"each continent the species is located following the same rules as the countryDistribution column; the following is a list of the continents as well as the spelling used for each: Africa|Antarctica|Asia|Europe|North America|Oceania|South America|Domesticated; the continents are defined as follows: Africa includes all African countries, Madagascar and the surrounding Indian Ocean island nations, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Cabo Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, and Socotra Islands; Antarctica includes continental Antarctica and all Southern Ocean island groups except for the Falkland Islands; Asia includes eastern Eurasia, cutting off from Europe at the Ural and Caucasus Mts in Russia and Ural River in Kazakhstan, from Africa at the Sinai Peninsula (part of Asia), and from Oceania at Webers Line in Indonesia; Europe includes western Eurasia delimited from Asia by the Ural and Caucasus Mts in Russia and Ural River in Kazakhstan and includes the Azores and all Mediterranean Islands except Cyprus; North America includes the continental countries as well as Greenland, Bermuda, the Caribbean except for Trinidad and Tobago and the Netherland Antilles, separating from South America at the border between Panama and Colombia; Oceania includes Australia, New Guinea, Wallacea east of Webers Line, New Zealand, and all Pacific Island Nations including Hawai'i and the Easter Islands; South America includes all continental countries, the Galapagos, Netherland Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Falkland Islands"
,biogeographicRealm,"biogeographic realm(s) where the species is present, as separated by pipes (|) and following the same rules as the countryDistribution field (refer to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogeographic_realm#/media/File:Ecozones.svg)"
,iucnStatus,"IUCN conservation statuses as given in IUCN 2024-1 and matched to MDD species, then updated to the currently recognized taxonomy ('NE' means not yet assessed by the IUCN; 19 domestic species are also not evaluated; otherwise the standard IUCN status acronyms are used)"
,extinct,"0 = extant, 1 = extinct; species has gone entirely extinct or is expected to have become extinct after 1500 CE (similar criterion as used by IUCN)"
,domestic,"0 = species is wild; 1 = species is domesticated; domestic species are treated as distinct entities for politicaly/conservation purposes here for species with ancient domestication history (19 species in total, including Homo sapiens); this arrangement follows naming guidelines from the following publication - Gentry, A., Clutton-Brock, J., & Groves, C. P. (2004). The naming of wild animal species and their domestic derivatives. Journal of Archaeological Science, 31(5), 645-651."
,flagged,"0 = valid, not flagged; 1 = flagged as taxonomically questionable; this field is often used for species with controversial taxonomic arrangements, or whos taxonomy is being debated in the taxonomic literature"
,CMW_sciName,unique combination of taxonomic genus and specific epithet with an underscore connecting them -- from the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (CMW)
,diffSinceCMW,0 = species present in CMW taxonomy; 1 = species new since CMW 2020
,MSW3_matchtype,"category of automated or manual matching to the third edition of Mammals Species of the World (MSW3) scientific names; values are matched, unmatched, manual"
,MSW3_sciName,scientific name as matched to the MSW3 taxonomy
,diffSinceMSW3,0 = species present in MSW3 taxonomy; 1 = species is new since MSW3 cutoff of ~2004
MDD_Higher_Current,,Current higher-level taxon listing for the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD)
,sciName,current scientific name used for the particular higher-level taxon on the MDD
,id,unique identification number used for indexing and permalinking; initially numbered (30 May 2025) as counting up from 1
,rank,the taxonomic rank that the particular higher-level taxon is recognized as on the MDD
,higherTaxon,the recognized higher-level taxon immediately above the particular high-level taxon listed in the 'sciName' column
,order,the taxonomic order that the higher-level taxon is recognized under on the MDD for names below the order level
,family,the taxonomic family that the higher-level taxon is recognized under on the MDD for names below the family level
,authorityAuthor,the author(s) of the authority of the higher-level taxon
,authorityYear,the year when the higher-level taxon became available
,originalCombination,the original spelling of the higher-level taxon in its original description
,authorityCitation,the original description citation for the higher-level taxon
,authorityLink,link to the original description for the higher-level taxon when available (and to the specific page the name was first mentioned when applicable)
,typeTaxon,the type designation of the higher-level taxon; this will be of a species for generic-level names and of a genus for family-level names
,taxonomyNotes,notes by MDD staff upon making taxonomic changes -- separated by semicolons (;)
,taxonomyNotesCitation,evidence citation backing up the changes made in the taxonomyNotes column by MDD staff; separated by pipes (|); citations are generally in APA format
Species_Syn_Current,,"all names applicable to species- and subspecies-level names; all species level synonyms within the Class Mammalia, which will match that of the online nomenclature database, Hesperomys (hesperomys.com)"
,MDD_syn_ID,unique MDD synonym identification number assigned to each synonym starting from '100000001' and increasing as new synonyms are added
,MDD_species,"the genus and specific epithet of the species that each synonym is assigned with a space between the genus and specific epithet, listed as 'genus incertae_sedis' or 'incertae_sedis incertae_sedis' if a specific name is not assigned to a species, specifically for nomen dubia, nomen inquirenda, and names with type material of composite or hybrid origin"
,MDD_root_name,"the specific epithet to be used as a root to form a valid taxon name from this name; the spelling of the name will be changed to match the generic gender if an adjective, or a name will be Latinized if initially written with non-Latin characters"
,MDD_author,"author last name(s) that first described the species, following typical guidelines for format with specifics listed here; all authors on the author line of the publication in which the species is described are included; a comma is presented after the second to last name if there are more than two authors (e.g., S. E. Pavan, Mendes-Oliveira, & Voss); if the volume was described in a book or journal article with a differing set of editors/authors in the author line, an 'in' statement is used after the initial authors, followed by the editors/authors of the primary text (e.g., D. J. Kitchener in D. J. Kitchener & Maryanto); when two authors share the same surname, the initials are added before the surname in both cases, and if they share the same initials, then the middle name is also written out (e.g. J. A. Allen and G. M. Allen); for names of Chinese, Korean, and Indochinese origin, the full name is writen out with the suriname put first and hyphens removed to match the format typically given in Chinese publication (e.g., Kuo Haochih, Fang Yinping, Csorba, & Lee Lingling)"
,MDD_year,year that author first described the species based on the original description
,MDD_authority_parentheses,0 for no parentheses around authority; 1 for parentheses around authority; values are based on the genus the species was included under in the original name combination as compared to the current genus name
,MDD_nomenclature_status,"the nomenclatural status of the name based on the ICZN Code; this columen will list if the name is avialable, whether it is a spelling variant or name combination, or the specific reason a name is unavailable (see Nomenclature_Taxonomy_Metadata for specific listing definitions)"
,MDD_validity,"the taxonomic status of the name based on the ICZN Code and primary literature; this column lists whether the name is a valid species or subspecies, or if the name is nomen dubium, nomen inquirendum, or if the name is based on type material of composite or hybrid origin (see Nomenclature_Taxonomy_Metadata for specific listing definitions)"
,MDD_original_combination,the original name combination as presented in the publication referenced in the citation related column; the full name of each part of the scientific name is included even if the name was initially abbreviated in the original description
,MDD_original_rank,"the taxonomic rank the name was first described as, including species, subspecies, form, variety, infrasubspecific, unranked, synonym, and other"
,MDD_authority_citation,"the full APA citation of the original description citation of the name, including the specific month and day of publication after the year if known; this field is only filled out when the MDD team has verified the citation by acquiring a PDF of physical copy of the text"
,MDD_unchecked_authority_citation,the original description citation of the name that has not been verified yet; these citations are not in a standardized format and may be abbreviated based on the formating of the source material including the citation (often regional and global taxonomic compendia); this field will include an 'NA' once the MDD_authority_citation field is filled
,MDD_sourced_unverified_citations,same as the MDD_unchecked_authority_citation but includes the sources where the citation was sourced from; kept as a reference for the MDD team when looking for citation information and links
,MDD_citation_group,the journal or city of publication (for books) that an original description citation was published in; this is primarily used as a reference for the MDD team when looking for citation information and links
,MDD_citation_kind,"whether the MDD team has a physical, electronic, or no copy of a original description citation; this is primarily used as a reference for the MDD team when looking for citation information and links"
,MDD_authority_page,"the page number that the scientific name first appears in the original description citation; there are many niche situations which involve listing the page number in different ways, such as the name first appearing in a footnote, no page numbers in the text, or the name appear on a figure or plate, which is demarked in straightforward fashion in the sheet, generally in parentheses"
,MDD_authority_link,"a link to an online copy of the original description of the name; for older publications this is generally to the Biodiversity Heritage Library or other publication archives, with newer publications having a DOI linking directly to the journal website"
,MDD_authority_page_link,"a link to the first page the name was used in an online copy of the original description of the name; this is usually only applicable to names found on the Biodiversity Heritage Library, Hathitrust, Gallica, or the Internet Archive"
,MDD_unchecked_authority_page_link,"for citation page links found programmatically on the Biodiversity Heritage Library that were not able to be checked for the inclusion the name programmatically using an OCRed version of the text, the links are put here for manual verification; multiple links may be separated with a pipe |"
,MDD_old_type_locality,the type locality (particularly for the names of valid species) that appeared in the original type locality field of the MDD synonym sheet before matching to Hesperomys; this is primarily kept for reference to the MDD team and is not to be used otherwise
,MDD_original_type_locality,the verbatim type locality from the original description citation text that has been verified by the MDD team; names where a type locality is not applicable have this field empty
,MDD_unchecked_type_locality,"the verbatim type locality from other non-original descrpition sources, the sources of which are listed after the type locality, with multiple type localities from different sources separated by pipes |; names where a type locality is not applicable have this field empty"
,MDD_emended_type_locality,"the verbatim emended type locality from sources making a type locality restriction, emendation, or declaration, followed by the reference making the decision; this field is currently empty and will be curated at a later date; names where a type locality is not applicable have this field empty"
,MDD_type_latitude,"geographic locality of the type specimen, latitude in decimal degrees; sourced initial from the original description of the name of by georeferencing the name through web searches of the locality, or by using geolocation web services, such as GeoLocate; names where a type locality is not applicable have this field empty"
,MDD_type_longitude,"geographic locality of the type specimen, longitude in decimal degrees; sourced initial from the original description of the name of by georeferencing the name through web searches of the locality, or by using geolocation web services, such as GeoLocate; names where a type locality is not applicable have this field empty"
,MDD_type_country,"the modern country that the type locality of a name falls into, see Distribution_List for list of countries used in this field; names where a type locality is not applicable have this field empty"
,MDD_type_subregion,"the modern subregion within the country that the type locality of a name falls into, including states, provinces, territories, and islands/island groups for larger countries, see Distribution_List for list of countries used in this field; names where a type locality is not applicable have this field empty"
,MDD_type_subregion2,"for some countries, a further subregion within the subregion specified by the MDD_type_subregion column; primarily includes counties in the United States and individual islands in some archipelagoes"
,MDD_holotype,"museum number of the type series; this data is gleaned from museum databases or the original describing publication; this field specifically includes holotypes, syntypes, lectotypes, and neotypes, with multiple syntypes separated by commas being included when applicable; this and the typeKind field are blank when no type material has been verified by the MDD, but if there is verifiably no type material for a name, this field is left blank but the typeKind field includes the label 'nonexistent'"
,MDD_type_kind,"the specific kind of type specimen listed in the typeVoucher column; populated with holotype, syntypes, lectotype, neotype, and nonexistent; this field is left blank if the existence of type material for this species hasn't been verified, but if the MDD team has verified that there is no existing type material for this species, this field is labeled with 'nonexistent'"
,MDD_type_specimen_link,"link(s) to the type material in external website(s), such as the hosting museum collection"
,MDD_order,"taxonomic order the name is included under; if not assigned to an order, this field says 'incertae_sedis'"
,MDD_family,"taxonomic family the name is included under; if not assigned to a family, this field says 'incertae_sedis'"
,MDD_genus,"taxonomic genus the name is included under; if not assigned to a genus, this field says 'incertae_sedis'"
,MDD_specificEpithet,"specific epithet of the species the name is included under; if not assigned to a species, this field says 'incertae_sedis'"
,MDD_subspecificEpithet,"the subspecific epithet of the subspecies the name is included under; this field is left blank if no subspecies are recognized within the species; currently this field lists a tentative subspecies list for all mammals on the MDD, but this has not yet been vetted and not all names have been assigned to their applicable subspecies, so this field is currently a work in progress"
,MDD_variant_of,"for names that are spelling variants or name combinations of another name, this name they are variants of is listed here with its original name combination, authority, and id number"
,MDD_senior_homonym,"for names that are preoccupied by another name, whether by primary or secondary homynomy, the name that preoccupies it is listed here with its original name combination, authority, and id number"
,MDD_name_usages,later citations using the exact spelling of the synonym name as presented in the MDD_original_combination field; citations are abbreviated to the authors and year followed by the page number the name appears on in the publication
,Hesp_id,"the identification number associated with the matching name in the Hesperomys database (hesperomys.com), used by the MDD to link to and move data between the two databases"
,MDD_species_id,the identification number of the species the name is included under as presented on the MDD_Current sheet
,MDD_comments,any comments regarding the nomenclature/taxonomy of a given name