We are curating the taxonomic implications of new research publications in real time — with the goal of promoting rigorous study of mammal biodiversity worldwide. The initial objective has been to aggregate, curate, and compile, new citations on species descriptions and taxonomic revisions into regular releases that are downloadable in comma-delimited format. Downstream goals include expanded hosting of ecological, trait, and taxonomic data.
| Taxa | MSW3 2005 | MDD 2018 | Current | Species |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 5,416 | 6,495 | 6,871 |
| Recently Extinct | 75 | 96 | 113 |
| Living | 5,341 | 6,399 | 6,758 |
| Domestic | 0 | 16 | 17 |
| Living Wild | 5,338 | 6,382 | 6,741 |
| Genera | 1,230 | 1,314 | 1,360 |
| Families | 153 | 167 | 167 |
| Orders | 29 | 27 | 27 |
| Synonyms | - | - | 64,683 |
App features:
Support all major desktop and mobile OS.
The current database (via Zenodo):
A specific entry: Each entry has a citation string at the end. For example:
Describing the MDD v2.0 taxonomy:
Burgin, C. J., Zijlstra, J. S., Becker, M. A., Handika, H., Alston, J. M., Widness, J., Liphardt, S., Huckaby, D. G., and Upham, N. S. (2025). How many mammal species are there now? Updates and trends in taxonomic, nomenclatural, and geographic knowledge. Journal of Mammalogy in press: TBD. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.27.640393
Describing the MDD v1.0 taxonomy:
Burgin, C. J., Colella, J. P., Kahn, P. L., and Upham, N. S. (2018). How many species of mammals are there? Journal of Mammalogy 99: 1—11. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyx147