An explanation of how the families are grouped is presented in the introductory part. The main text applies to bat families whose order reflects insights into chiropteran phylogenetics the families of the Yinpterochiroptera (7 families) are followed by Yangochiroptera (14 families). To tackle this problem, the authors have minimized the introductory chapter and summarized the bibliography on a separate CD-ROM (available on the Lynx Edicions website), as well as adopting abbreviations. Therefore, the task of compiling this information on this second largest mammalian group (almost 1,400 species) into a limited number of pages appears all but impossible. Bats occupy almost every habitat on six continents and their ecology is incredibly diverse. Our knowledge of bats has been growing dramatically over the past few decades, including description of new species.
FAMILY JACANAIDAE HANDBOOK OF THE BIRDS OF THE WORLD SERIES
It completes the comprehensive multi-volume series that is comparable only with the Handbook of the Birds of the World, which was finalized in 2013. It also neatly complements the first volume of Lynx's Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World (see Birdwatch 268: 76).The last, but not the least, final volume of the Handbook of the Mammals of the World, which illustrates and describes in detail every mammalian species on the planet, is dedicated to a spectacular group of bats. Notwithstanding such occasional eyebrow-raisers, this substantial body of work brings together core information for all the world's bird families, and is the most up-to-date overview of its subject matter to date. Some of the genera may also be unfamiliar, with Saunders's Gull now in its own genus of Saundersilarus, Pallas's Leaf Warbler and eight other 'Phylloscs' placed in Abrornis, and a further three including Wood Warbler going to Rhadina. For example, flamingos are followed by pigeons and doves, mesites and sandgrouse and tropicbirds, divers (here loons) and penguins are placed after the Charadriiformes (waders). There are some surprises, not least in the order of families. The excellent artwork is inherited from HBW and the photos of broadly similar standard, though less so in a few instances. Most families get one or typically two pages of text, with each account featuring several photos and illustrations of a sample member of each genus these may add several pages of plates in the case of larger families such as the Trochilidae (hummingbirds). By necessity of space, these are pithy summaries of key information under the headings of Related Families, Similar Birds, Description, Habitat, Food, Breeding and Conservation. Thereafter, family accounts form the meat of the book. Bird Families of the World does the same with a paper by Jon Fjeldså, Per Ericson, Ulf Johansson and Dario Zuccon describing three new bird family names, the Chaetopidae (rockjumpers), Hylocitreidae (Olive-flanked Whistler) and Modulatricidae ( Spot-throat and allies). Later volumes of HBW occasionally took on the mantle of peer-reviewed journal, publishing scientific papers that unveiled novel research or described new species. These and other themes are then developed and expanded, with evolutionary trees explained, the rising importance of genetic data in avian systematics examined, and classification challenges identified and explained.įurther scene-setting sections on extinction and diversification, faunal regions and avian endemism make fascinating reading, while attractive maps depict biogeographic richness (or otherwise) - the north–south divide in the Americas is especially striking, the most bird-rich Neotropics having 42 endemic bird families (20 non-passerine and 22 passerine) compared to the most impoverished Nearctic, with just one (though the range of Olive Warbler, the sole member of the Peucedramidae, actually extends to both regions). We learn from the introduction that "Classification at the level of orders provides the deep structure for avian diversity, sometimes revealing surprising relationships between families", while "the avian family is where the diversity of birds becomes most manageable and meaningful". It is not, however, merely a condensed collection of the illustrated essays familiar from HBW, but a new synopsis produced in association with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.Īccording to Lynx's global avian taxonomy, there are 36 orders and 243 families of birds. Subtitled An Invitation to the Spectacular Diversity of Birds, this expansive tome from Lynx Edicions continues the publisher's post- Handbook of the Birds of the World output in typically comprehensive style.
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