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Author's note: this taxonomic decision is part of a series by members of the Global Bat Taxonomy Working Group to help settle ongoing disputes in the taxonomic literature and suggest targets for data collection. See the concise conclusion below as well as the full article with background and justification in PDF & DOCX formats for download. ### RECOMMENDATION We recommend the recognition of Lasiurus, Dasypterus, and Aeorestes as subgenera within the genus Lasiurus for the following reasons: The genus Lasiurus thus defined is monophyletic; The use of subgenera is appropriate to recognize groupings within the genus; There are no objective criteria for suggesting that a particular timing or degree of divergence merits elevating these subgenera to genera, and in any case there is considerable uncertainty in estimated divergence times of these groups and other genera in the family Vespertilionidae; and finally that Retention of the genus Lasiurus for all members of the tribe Lasiurini meets the ICZN (1999) goal of promoting maximum stability in nomenclature.&nbsp

AimComprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity variable and central to a range of applications in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conservation. Expert range maps often represent a species' only available distributional information and play an increasing role in conservation assessments and macroecology. We provide global range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species harmonised to the taxonomy of the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD) mobilised from two sources, the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (HMW) and the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (CMW).LocationGlobal.TaxonAll extant mammal species.MethodsRange maps were digitally interpreted, georeferenced, error-checked and subsequently taxonomically aligned between the HMW (6253 species), the CMW (6431 species) and the MDD taxonomies (6362 species).ResultsRange maps can be evaluated and visualised in an online map browser at Map of Life (mol.org) and accessed for individual or batch download for non-commercial use.Main conclusionExpert maps of species' global distributions are limited in their spatial detail and temporal specificity, but form a useful basis for broad-scale characterizations and model-based integration with other data. We provide georeferenced range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species as shapefiles, with species-level metadata and source information packaged together in geodatabase format. Across the three taxonomic sources our maps entail, there are 1784 taxonomic name differences compared to the maps currently available on the IUCN Red List website. The expert maps provided here are harmonised to the MDD taxonomic authority and linked to a community of online tools that will enable transparent future updates and version control.

Data mirroring for long-term integrity of these critical geospatial resources. Included here are expert geographic range maps aligned to the taxonomy of the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (HMW) volumes 1-9, where were published from 2009 to 2019 and are available from Lynx Ediciones: https://www.lynxeds.com/product/handbook-of-the-mammals-of-the-world-volumes-1-9/. That taxonomy includes 6,258 total species, of which 5 were not able to be mapped -- yielding maps for 6,253 species. The unmapped HMW species are as follows: excludes 2 species for which no spatial information was available (Nycticeius aenobarbus and Phoniscus aerosus); and excludes 2 species that are mapped in CMW and MDD but not HMW (Biswamoyopterus laoensis and Ctenomys dorsalis); and excludes 1 species has a range map in the MDD, but not in the CMW or HMW (Makalata obscura). ### File inventory ### Order-level zipped files (27 total), one for each extant order of mammals, unzips to geopackage (*.gpg) format; Mammalia-wide zipped file (1: "HMW_Mammalia.zip"), includes maps for all 27 orders, unzips to gpg format; and Subset of HMW vol. 1-9 taxonomy for which range maps are here provided (6,253 species) in csv format ("hmw_spList_wFamilieswOrders_mapped_6253species.csv"). ### Full citation ### Marsh, C.J., Sica, Y.V., Burgin, C.J., Dorman, W.A., Anderson, R.C., del Toro Mijares, I., Vigneron, J.G., Barve, V., Dombrowik, V.L., Duong, M., Guralnick, R., Hart, J.A., Maypole, J.K., McCall, K., Ranipeta, A., Schuerkmann, A., Torselli, M.A., Lacher Jr, T., Mittermeier, R.A., Rylands, A.B., Sechrest, W., Wilson, D.E., Abba, A.M., Aguirre, L.F., Arroyo-Cabrales, J., Astúa, D., Baker, A.M., Braulik, G., Braun, J.K., Brito, J., Busher, P.E., Burneo, S.F., Camacho, M.A., Cavallini, P., de Almeida Chiquito, E., Cook, J.A., Cserkész, T., Csorba, G., Cuéllar Soto, E., da Cunha Tavares, V., Davenport, T.R.B., Deméré, T., Denys, C., Dickman, C.R., Eldridge, M.D.B., Fernandez-Duque, E., Francis, C.M., Frankham, G., Franklin, W.L., Freitas, T., Friend, J.A., Gadsby, E.L., Garbino, G.S.T., Gaubert, P., Giannini, N., Giarla, T., Gilchrist, J.S., Gongora, J., Goodman, S.M., Gursky-Doyen, S., Hackländer, K., Hafner, M.S., Hawkins, M., Helgen, K.M., Heritage, S., Hinckley, A., Hintsche, S., Holden, M., Holekamp, K.E., Honeycutt, R.L., Huffman, B.A., Humle, T., Hutterer, R., Ibáñez Ulargui, C., Jackson, S.M., Janecka, J., Janecka, M., Jenkins, P., Juškaitis, R., Juste, J., Kays, R., Kilpatrick, C.W., Kingston, T., Koprowski, J.L., Kryštufek, B., Lavery, T., Lee Jr, T.E., Leite, Y.L.R., Novaes, R.L.M., Lim, B.K., Lissovsky, A., López-Antoñanzas, R., López-Baucells, A., MacLeod, C.D., Maisels, F.G., Mares, M.A., Marsh, H., Mattioli, S., Meijaard, E., Monadjem, A., Morton, F.B., Musser, G., Nadler, T., Norris, R.W., Ojeda, A., Ordóñez-Garza, N., Pardiñas, U.F.J., Patterson, B.D., Pavan, A., Pennay, M., Pereira, C., Prado, J., Queiroz, H.L., Richardson, M., Riley, E.P., Rossiter, S.J., Rubenstein, D.I., Ruelas, D., Salazar-Bravo, J., Schai-Braun, S., Schank, C.J., Schwitzer, C., Sheeran, L.K., Shekelle, M., Shenbrot, G., Soisook, P., Solari, S., Southgate, R., Superina, M., Taber, A.B., Talebi, M., Taylor, P., Vu Dinh, T., Ting, N., Tirira, D.G., Tsang, S., Turvey, S.T., Valdez, R., Van Cakenberghe, V., Veron, G., Wallis, J., Wells, R., Whittaker, D., Williamson, E.A., Wittemyer, G., Woinarski, J., Zinner, D., Upham, N.S., Jetz, W., 2022. Expert range maps of global mammal distributions harmonised to three taxonomic authorities. Journal of Biogeography 49 (5):979-992. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14330 ### Data downloads on Map of Life ### All range maps for the three taxonomic sources are openly available for non-commercial use through https://mol.org/datasets or at species-level at https://mol.org/species, or for bulk download at https://doi.org/10.48600/mol-7r3j-8066 (HMW), https://doi.org/10.48600/mol-zzrs-q778 (CMW) and https://doi.org/10.48600/mol-48vz-p413 (MDD). ### Abstract ### Aim: Comprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity variable and central to a range of applications in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conservation. Expert range maps often represent a species' only available distributional information and play an increasing role in conservation assessments and macroecology. We provide global range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species harmonised to the taxonomy of the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD) mobilised from two sources, the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (HMW) and the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (CMW). Location: Global. Taxon: All extant mammal species. Methods: Range maps were digitally interpreted, georeferenced, error-checked and subsequently taxonomically aligned between the HMW (6253 species), the CMW (6431 species) and the MDD taxonomies (6362 species). Results: Range maps can be evaluated and visualised in an online map browser at Map of Life (mol.org) and accessed for individual or batch download for non-commercial use. Main conclusion: Expert maps of species' global distributions are limited in their spatial detail and temporal specificity, but form a useful basis for broad-scale characterizations and model-based integration with other data. We provide georeferenced range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species as shapefiles, with species-level metadata and source information packaged together in geodatabase format. Across the three taxonomic sources our maps entail, there are 1784 taxonomic name differences compared to the maps currently available on the IUCN Red List website. The expert maps provided here are harmonised to the MDD taxonomic authority and linked to a community of online tools that will enable transparent future updates and version control. Keywords: GIS; Mammalia; biodiversity; biogeography; conservation planning; mapping; species distributions.