The curator guide has the taxon framework for mammals as the 2019 Mammal Diversity Database (MDD).
The MDD was relaunched as v2 that is being regularly updated https://www.mammaldiversity.org/. The taxon framework should be officially updated to be the current version of MDD.
There is a closed topic that was never resolved about the same issue from 2024
Just cross-referencing the closed topic here. Since it was a question about a specific taxon, it seemed appropriate to leave it closed and address the more general question here.
Thank you for highlighting this update with the MDD.
I will provide a link to this resource on my profile page - and with a journal posting about it as well.
I noted this on the MDD home page: Current version: v2.1, released April 6, 2025.
I have an interest in identification of Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and various subspecies and went to the link (via https://www.mammaldiversity.org/taxon/1006300/ via search database to discover what was listed there.
The geographic distribution of Mule Deer in the MDD in the subregion distribution corresponds nicely with the observation record within iNaturalist
(e.g., USA(AK,WA,OR,ID,MT,ND,SD,NE,KS,OK,TX,NM,CO,WY,UT,AZ,NV,CA)
and the geomodel (expected nearby map) for Mule Deer.
https://www.inaturalist.org/geo_model/42220/explain
What was also interesting was to note this in the MDD (current version) re; Mule Deer -
Other common names
Black-tailed Deer
which would capture the two subspecies:
Columbian Black-tailed Deer - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?subview=map&taxon_id=42221
and Sitka Black-tailed Deer - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?subview=map&taxon_id=182715
and that would fit nicely with the current understanding of research (scholarship) with the taxonomic structure for Mule Deer in the following references (via link):
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/scottdwright/108498-recommended-book-and-book-chapter-on-black-tailed-and-mule-deer-north-america
thanks, Scott D. Wright
I see the Geomyidae has been reworked with new split genera and new elevated species, based on a few recent papers. Maybe a little too quick to pull the trigger on those, in my opinion, but that’s the way taxonomy goes these days.
Just being on my soapbox here:
Domestic mammals are not separate species from their wild ancestors. When we look at them from a genomic viewpoint, we often find (as with domestic cats for example) that they nest well within the parent species (e.g. African wildcat). While cross-species hybridisation is a thing, for mammals in general species does seem to be a more strict barrier than, say, plants. So we find that wildcats and domestic cats will breed VERY readily wherever they meet in the wild, with no issues in offspring fertility - that is because they are not separate species. Felid hybridisation could happen in the wild but only very rarely.
I do understand that domesticated animals are classified separately to their wild ancestors (if those wild cogeners still exist) from a legal and conservation point of view, as it is useful for humans to classify them separately so that resources can be spent on conserving the wild ancestral species. In terms of iNat it’s also useful to see the wild ancestral species separate to the domesticated populations as we can then see what the wild range is without the domestic lineage muddying things up.
Just bear in mind that it’s all fiction: an useful fiction.
What is your definition of a species? The last I heard, there was no actual definition, just dozens of completely different 'species concepts". I think most domestic animals should be in their own species. They look different (much more different than one wild species to another wild species) and they only very rarely interbreed with wild species.
@aroe since the question pertains to a specific taxon (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/40151-Mammalia) and how its taxonomy is managed on iNat, please create a flag on the taxon to start a discussion there.