Reptile Taxonomy

Hi folks, iNaturalist is supposed to be using the Reptile Database as our reference for Reptiles. Things were a bit out of date but I just did an update getting things in sync. I've also locked this taxonomy down so it will be easier moving forward to keep things in sync. This is similar to whats been going on with Odonata and Amphibians which you can read more about in those posts. Here is a ruby script that compares iNaturalist to Reptile Database. There are several situations where iNaturalist is still out of sync with Reptile Database. To bring them completely in sync, we'd have to make 10 merges, 8 splits, 5 swaps, and add one missing species. The swaps would be: Kinosternon arizonense -> Kinosternon stejnegeri Holbrookia maculata -> Holbrookia approximans Emydoidea blandingii -> Emys blandingii Uma rufopunctata -> Uma cowlesi Ramphotyphlops braminus -> Indotyphlops braminus The new species would be Trachemys medemi (a newly described turtle species not yet in Turtles of the World). The merges and splits would be as follows: iNat is not merging Crotalus tortugensis & Crotalus atrox into Crotalus atrox iNat is not merging Anatololacerta anatolica & Anatololacerta oertzeni into Anatololacerta anatolica iNat is not merging Acontias lineicauda & Acontias orientalis into Acontias orientalis iNat is not merging Pliocercus bicolor & Pliocercus elapoides into Pliocercus elapoides iNat is not merging Trapelus lessonae & Trapelus ruderatus into Trapelus ruderatus iNat is not merging Macrochelys apalachicolae & Macrochelys temminckii into Macrochelys temminckii iNat is not merging Lampropeltis multifasciata & Lampropeltis zonata into Lampropeltis zonata iNat is not merging Aspidoscelis arizonae and Aspidoscelis inornata into Aspidoscelis inornatus iNat is not merging Aspidoscelis tigris, Aspidoscelis catalinensis, & Aspidoscelis canus into Aspidoscelis tigris iNat is not merging Ctenotus helenae, Ctenotus inornatus, Ctenotus saxatilis, & Ctenotus fallens into Ctenotus inornatus iNat is not splitting Actinemys marmorata into Emys marmorata, & Emys pallida iNat is not splitting Salvadora hexalepis into Salvadora deserticola, & Salvadora hexalepis iNat is not splitting Cyclura cornuta into Cyclura stejnegeri, & Cyclura cornuta iNat is not splitting Terrapene carolina into Terrapene carolina, Terrapene mexicana, & Terrapene yucatana iNat is not splitting Sceloporus occidentalis into Sceloporus occidentalis & Sceloporus becki iNat is not splitting Kinosternon subrubrum into Kinosternon steindachneri & Kinosternon subrubrum iNat is not splitting Drymarchon couperi into Drymarchon couperi & Drymarchon kolpobasileus iNat is not splitting Phrynosoma hernandesi and Phrynosoma douglasii into Phrynosoma hernandesi, Phrynosoma bauri, Phrynosoma brevirostris, Phrynosoma diminutum, Phrynosoma ornatissimum, & Phrynosoma douglasii If any one feels strongly that we should remove any of these discrepancies (to bring iNat more inline with the Reptile Database) or add any new discrepancies (places where we should deviate from Reptile Database), let me know here. As discussed more in the Ode and Amphibs posts, it would be nice to form a working group of top global and regional Reptile identifiers who so we can resolve any taxonomic disagreements. Using the top 5 global IDers and the tip 3 IDers from each continent, this working group would be composed of: @lucareptile,@gtsalmon,@loarie,@net8a,@jmaughn,@jhvaldez,@sandboa,@desversen,@danieleseglie,@karoltabarellidefatis,@calebcam,@jakob,@alexanderr,@adammyates,@fieldnaturalist,@ritt,@wild-about-texas,@herpguy,@mako252,@kchyn,@apbbani,@diegophidio,@camilojotage Thanks all! Scott
Publicado el lunes, 18 de diciembre de 2017 a las 12:39 AM por loarie loarie

Comentarios

Hi everyone,

I would be happy to assist with this. In particular with turtles. I am a taxonomist and paleontologist, importantly I am a member of the ICZN and also communicate regularly with Peter Uetz the owner of Reptile Database. For turtles I review and write parts of the IUCN Checklist for turtles, which is largely the main reference used by Reptile Database, Wikipedia and Wikispecies for turtles.

Anotado por faendalimas hace mas de 6 años

is the consensus really that Actinemys & Emydoidea should be lumped into Emys?

Anotado por loarie hace mas de 6 años

There is no real consensus on this issue, to the point that the IUCN Checklist (2017, 8th edition) makes it optional which name to use. I criticised them heavily for this as their actions were not nomenclatural and in Breach of the ICZN Code. A taxon has one name, you do not have options under the code. From what has been presented the authors should make a proposal, everyone should follow it or refute it. The sensible approach at present is to take the conservative approach, ie use what has established usage. In this case modern usages have had no time to establish, therefore traditional usage should be followed, keep them separate for now.

Anotado por faendalimas hace mas de 6 años

thanks for everyone's (ongoing) help getting Reptile taxonomy in line. Here's some of the fruits of our labor: https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/13377-tallying-observed-vertebrate-species-with-complete-taxa

Anotado por loarie hace mas de 6 años

Hi Folks, I pulled in an update from Reptile Database so we're now up to date aside from the 'explicit deviations' we're making. Also I created a project with its own journal where we can continue these discussions https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/reptile-taxonomic-working-group/journal/17244-reptile-database-update - seems more appropriate than my personal journal here. Please follow the project if you want to be looped into Reptile taxonomy discussions

Anotado por loarie hace casi 6 años

Hi everyone seems we need to revisit the issues of Chelodina again. Major taxonomic changes made to the genus from a recent paper I am an author on:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jdu4wvaix4uqmvi/2019_Kehlmaier_et_al_mitogenomics.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/udlwqs1irypzi8k/2020_Shea_etal_Chelodina_oblonga.pdf?dl=0

First paper is already followed by Reptile Database and Wikispecies, second paper will be in next update at Reptile Database and is already on Wikispecies.

Cheers Scott

Anotado por faendalimas hace casi 4 años

thanks for sharing here - glad RD is on these

Anotado por loarie hace casi 4 años

its no probs, let me know when you have the genera and species sorted here and I will start on re-identifying individual photos.

Note
Chelodina (Macrochelodina) and all species of it, now Chelodina (Chelydera)
Chelodina (Macrodiremys) now Chelodina (Macrochelodina)
Chelodina colliei (Perth form) = Chelodina oblonga
Chelodina oblonga (NT Form) = Chelodina kurrichalpongo
Chelodina oblonga (Qld and NG form) = Chelodina rugosa

Link to Wikispecies page = https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chelodina

Let me know if you need my help.

Cheers Scott

Anotado por faendalimas hace casi 4 años

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