(also Guide to Authors)
In my lists, the following data are commonly given. (Please note that this is based on the list for Glires. Other lists may be slightly distinct.). In some lists, there is a legend at the top of the page.
COLUMN A-D (in all lists)
A: number of species
B: number of subspecies
C: number of genera
D: number of families
COLUMN E-H
Averages of subspecies per species, species per genus, etc., and in some lists numbers of living species.
COLUMN I
Taxonomic rank
HT: High Taxon (from tribe to class)
gen: Genus
sgen: Subgenus or species group (sometimes referred to as "spg")
sp: Species
ssp: Subspecies
si: Species Inquirenda or Nomen Dubium
pop: Distinct population, not described as subspecies
synHT: synonym of HT
syngen: synonym of gen
ngen: genera which are not officially described. (not for all taxa)
nsgen: subgenera which are not officially described, i.s. (not for all taxa)
etc.
COLUMN J
'e' means 'not Holocene' (in fact it means 'extinct', but many Holocene species are also extinct, thus that isn't very good a definition), thus all recent species have no 'e'. (The Holocene begins some 11,500 years ago).
COLUMN K
"x" means that it was considered a valid taxon by Mammalian Species or some other authority.
COLUMN L
Age. Trias=Trias, Jura=Jura, Creta=Cretaceous, Paleo=Paleocene, Eo=Eocene, Oligo=Oligocene, Mio=Miocene, Plio=Pliocene, Pleis=Pleistocene, Recent=Holocene. Mostly the exact age is given (Irvingtonian, Wasatchian, Villafranchian, etc., but my aim is to give only the main age. (Oligocene etc.) L=Lower, M=Middle, E=Early, U=Upper.
COLUMN M
Distribution (Mainly for extinct species).
COLUMN N
Scientific name.
In taxa higher than a genus (HT), the name of the taxon is given. Letter type is variable, the bigger the letter type, the higher the taxon.
Genus names are given as 'Cercopithecus', in bald.
Subgenus names are given as 'Cercopithecus (Cercopithecus)', in italics. The genus name is first given, with the subgenus name between parentheses.
Species group names are given as 'Oxymycterus (rufus)' as no subgenus name was included, and as 'Cercopithecus (Cercopithecus) (mitis)' as there are also subgenera. Both are in italics, with the name of the oldest species in the group between parentheses.
Species names are given as 'Antechinus agilis', Oxymycterus (rufus) rufus or Cercopithecus (Cercopithecus) (mitis) mitis, not in bald, nor in italics.
Subspecies names are given as ' Thomomys (Thomomys) bottae bottae', in 10 and italics.
Synonyms are mostly given with a '/', after the valid name. Authors of synonyms are very rarely given, but I'm going to improve that.
I am going to place synonyms in separate fields, in 8, in colum N, with the correct name in column M. Thus: Dromiciops gliroides (new column) Didelphys australis [preocc.]. Preocc. means preoccupied, nom.nud. means nomen nudum. All synonyms of the early mammals, Eulipotyphla, Glires, and Euarchonta have already been placed in separate fields.
COLUMN P-S
Given in Walker's Mammals of the World, with comment, or in Wilson and Reeder (Very irregularly, not improved), or, for the Sigmodontinae in Duff & Lawson (2004), with explanation if I do not follow Duff & Lawson.
COLUMN T
Author of scientific name.
COLUMN U
If the author described the species in another genus, a '(' is given. If I'm not sure about that, a ? is given.
COLUMN V
Year of description.
COLUMN W (From here it is very, very variable)
Page number on which the taxon was described.
COLUMN X
Type locality
COLUMN Y
Source for taxonomic data (MS=Mammalian Species with year, OD=Original Description)
COLUMN Z
Holotype
COLUMN AA
Distribution
COLUMN AB
Reference to the original description
COLUMN AC
Original name
COLUMN AD
Etymology
COLUMN AE
Number of chromosomes (2n=)
COLUMN AF
Fundamental number of chromosomal arms (FN=)
COLUMN AG
Classification (Main group (=Paramammalia, Archaeomammalia, Holotheria, 'Australophenidamorpha', Metatheria, Eutheria incertae sedis., Afrotheria, Xenarthra, Meridiungulata, Laurasiatheria or Euarchontoglires)/Order/Family/Subfamily/(By Sigmodontinae and Murinae) Tribe)
COLUMN AF
Comments
COLUMN AG
Distribution (A=Neotropis, B=Nearctis, C=Palearctis, D=Orientalis, E=Aethiopis, F=Madagaskar, G=New-Guinea, New Zealand & Pacific Islands, H=Sea, I=Australia)
COLUMN AH
Status (IUCN)
COLUMN AI
Dutch common name
-Undescribed or uncertain species (Akodon aff. cursor, Akodon cf. cursor, cf. 'Antechinus' sp., Ctenomys sp.2, etc.) are NEVER given, except where the reference to the article in which the new species was described is known, but the name of the new taxon is not. Such taxa are referred to as "desc.spec.nov." (descripta species nova).
-Incertae Sedis and Species Inquirenda are always abbreviated to "i.s." and "s.i.", respectively. "i.s." is not capitalized when it is part of the taxon name (Didelphimorphia i.s.; Myocastoroidea? i.s.), but it is capitalized when it is in the classification (Metatheria/Didelphimorphia/I.S.; Euarchontoglires/Hystricognathi/Myocastoroidea?I.S.).
-If a species is usually referred to a genus which is not monophyletic if that species in included, it should be reffered to with quotation marks ("Oryzomys" angouya). If there are more of such 'genera', they are numbered, even if they are included as subgenera in another genus ("Alilepus"1 to Romerolagus ("Alilepus"4) in the Leporidae). Authors are never given for such 'genera'. If a family name has never been described for a genus, but it is elevated to familial status, the family should be named, for example ""Familia Paracryptomyidae"", with quotation marks. Genera like "Oryzomys" have the rank "ngen".
-Species groups are, if possible, included.
-Paraphyletic taxa are used, but only if the inclusion of only one other clade would make the taxon monophyletic. This to prevent that every genus of basal boreosphenidan or so forms a separate infraclass. A statement "[paraphyletic]" is given after the taxon name in the column for scientific names. The purpose is to restrict paraphyly to extinct groups.
If you still have a question, please write to me.