''Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'' is a standard reference work in

mammalogy In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. The archive of number of mammals on earth is constantly growi ...

giving descriptions and bibliographic data for the known species of

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s. It is now in its third edition, published in late 2005, which was edited by Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder. An online version is hosted by

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

, from which the names of the species can be downloaded as a custom dictionary. A partial online version is available at Google Books (see "External links" below). The Checklist Committee is charged with compiling and updating MSW. In its Annual Report for 2015, the Committee noted that it is under contract with Johns Hopkins Press for the 4th edition of MSW, which will be edited by DeeAnn M. Reeder and Kristofer M. Helgen. The database has been made editable for the authors, leading to more frequent website updates. The publication was scheduled for release in 2017, and then deferred until 2019.

References

External links

Site hosted by Bucknell Universitysearch hosted by Bucknell Universitytaxon browser on archived version of the Smithsonian website for MSW3
(archived 26 May 2011)
''Mammal Species of the World'' at Google Books
Mammalogical literature Online taxonomy databases Zoology books {{zoology-book-stub