Talk:Anomalure

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Common Name Normality

This article is extremely inconsistent. Three different common names (Anomalure, Flying Mouse, Scaly-tail) were used for the genera Anomalurus, Idiurus, and Zenkerella, respectively. This is completely unnecessary given the family is restricted to seven extant species. To amend this information to make it less complex, I am reverting all common names to "Scaly-tailed flying squirrel" as per MacDonald's Encyclopedia of Mammals 2006.

I disagree with this. These are three very different types of animals. Anomalurus looks like a giant flying squirrel and Idiurus looks like a small gliding mouse. The biggest issue I have is with Zenkerella. There's nothing remotely "flying" about it. It doesn't have gliding membranes. Dieterlan (2005) in Mammal Species of the World 3 used "scaly-tailed sqirrel" for Anomalurus, "scaly-tailed flying squirrel" for Idiurus, and "Cameroon Scaly-tail" for Zenkerella insignis. Duff and Lawson (2004) in Mammals of the World: A Checklist used "scaly-tailed flying squirrel" for both Anomalurus and Idiurus and "Cameroon Scaly-tail" for Zenkerella". Nowak (1999) in Walker's Mammals of the World used "scaly-tailed flying squirrels" for Anomalurus, "pygmy scaly-tailed flying squirrels" for Idiurus and "Flightless Scaly-tailed Squirrel" for Zenkerella. Finally Kingdon (1997) in The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals used "anomalure" for Anomalurus, "flying mice" for Idiurus, and "Cameroon scaly-tail" for Zenkerella. I think Kingdon is the most descriptive and most useful, but I wouldn't be opposed to "scaly-tailed flying squirrel" for Idiurus and Anomalurus and "scaly-tail" for Zenkerella. --Aranae 21:07, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, so let's move it to Scaly-tailed squirrel, then, given WP:COMMONNAME and the fact that this is the most common name that doesn't include "Flying". The only objection I could imagine might be that one of these "squirrels" is a "mouse", (while, of course, not really being "squirrels" or "mice". I'm going to be bold and move it. The name of articles should follow the rule: "Lion", not "Felis leo". Anyone object before I move it to "Scaly-tailed Squirrel"? Chrisrus (talk) 04:00, 20 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Addition of genus Anomalurops

Taxonomic Notes: "Transferred from Anomalurus to Anomalurops. This species has been separated from the other large anomalures in the genus Anomalurops (Matschie 1914, Rümmler 1933, Dekeyser 1955, Rosevear 1969) on the basis of the following characters: the relatively short tail which is short-haired and narrow with only a very small brush at the tip, a small white spot medially on the crown between the ears (in some individuals), and only three depressions on each upper molar tooth. And see Grubb et al. 1998." 2006 IUCN Red List [1] --EllisD 08:52, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are you quoting MacDonald again here? For taxonomy, that's probably not quite as good of a reference as MSW3, which is a bit more of an industry standard. Both opinions should be noted, but I would vote for Dieterlan's (2005) approach of synonomizing the two into Anomalurus since MSW3 is specifically designed with these informed taxonomy decisions in mind. As you note, this has gone back and forth and I'm sure it won't be resolved until some new data (such as molecular studies) are brought into the argument. --Aranae 21:07, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also, you cited "genetic and morphological evidence" as the reason for splitting Anomalurops on the Anomalurus page. What's the genetic evidence? GenBank only lists gene sequences from "Anomalurus sp." and "Idiurus macrotis". --Aranae 21:07, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]