Recently, the Catalogue of Mammals in China (2021 Edition) (hereinafter referred to as the Catalogue) has been compiled. The Veterinary Branch of the Chinese Zoological Society organized domestic researchers who have been committed to the classification of mammals for a long time to complete this research.
Academician Wei Fuwen of Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences is the core organizer of the compilation of Catalogue. He said that on the occasion of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBDCOP15), the achievements of the Catalogue will help researchers all over the world to jointly understand the rich mammal diversity in China.
Does the giant panda belong to the Giant Panda Family or Xiong Ke?
"Little Panda" has been divided into two species.
The Catalogue has been compiled since 2016, covering known mammal species distributed in all the territories and territorial waters of China. This includes both previous research results and recent scientific discoveries.
Because the giant panda has a "cat" in its name, many people associate it with cats. However, years of research have shown that there is no close genetic relationship between giant pandas and cats. So how do you classify giant pandas? Does the giant panda belong to the Giant Panda Family or Xiong Ke? With the deepening of research in recent years, the classification conclusion that "giant pandas belong to Xiong Ke" has been widely recognized by international academic circles, and this classification method has been adopted in the Catalogue to classify giant pandas into Xiong Ke.
Previous studies have found that there are obvious morphological differences between the red pandas distributed around the Himalayas and those in China, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, which leads scientists to divide the red pandas into two subspecies, Himalaya and China, or tend to upgrade both subspecies to species. In 2020, the research results of Wei Fuwen’s team supported the view of "species": that is, red pandas were divided into Himalayan red pandas and Chinese red pandas. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for the scientific protection of two kinds of wild red pandas, the establishment of accurate captive pedigree and the avoidance of interspecific hybridization. At the same time, this classification conclusion has also been adopted by this Catalogue.
The Catalogue contains reintroduced species.
Rhinoceroses are not included because they are extinct.
In the process of species collection, researchers in China have gradually formed scientific screening criteria. The Catalogue includes species that have been reintroduced to China and have formed wild populations in the wild. Elk is of special significance to Chinese. This species originally lived in the marshes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and disappeared completely in China in the early 20th century. In 1985, China began international cooperation, and once again introduced milu deer, and implemented plans of artificial breeding, free-range breeding and wild release of milu deer in Nanhaizi, Jiangsu Dafeng, Shishou, Hubei and Poyang Lake, Jiangxi. At present, the elk population almost completely covers the original habitat. Therefore, elk have also been included in the Catalogue.
According to records, rhinoceroses were distributed in China during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties two or three thousand years ago. However, due to the changes of climate and ecological environment, rapid population growth and other factors, rhinoceros disappeared in China in the middle of the 20th century. The List does not include rhinoceros, a species that has been confirmed to be distributed in the history of China, but has now been declared extinct. In addition, for those species with specimens but no distribution in China, disputed species and exotic species, this Catalogue has not been included yet.
When sorting species, the Catalogue catalogued according to the "phylogenetic tree" constructed by the latest phylogenetic relationship of various groups of mammals. Among them, Order and Family elements are arranged according to phylogenetic relationship, and sorted from the root of "phylogenetic tree"; Genus and Species are sorted by Latin alphabetical names.
Sufficient evidence is needed to promote more subspecies to species.
In China, human beings have 28 kinds of "relatives"
According to the research results of this Catalogue, the mammals in China are divided into 12 orders, such as Ceratoptera, Ceratoptera, Primates, Rabbiniformes, Rodents, Lauya insectivora, Chiroptera, Artiodactyla, Squamata and Carnivora. There are at least one species in China, namely, Asiatic Elephant, Dugong and Northern Tree Shrew. There are 235 species of rodents in China. There are 4 families, 9 genera and 29 species of primates to which we belong.
For the classification of species in the Catalogue, the compilers of the Catalogue emphasized that it conforms to the internationally accepted animal naming regulations. Species need to be supported by specimens, entities, photos and documents, and at the same time, morphology and molecular evidence should be combined. If there is only molecular evidence, we will not consider changing its original classification status for the time being. Wei Fuwen, for example, said that the current support for upgrading the subspecies of pronghorn, sika deer, red deer and argali to species is mainly based on morphological basis. Therefore, the Catalogue carefully did not upgrade the subspecies of the above species to species.
With more and more ancient mammal fossils accumulated by researchers and the rapid development of molecular systematics, the phylogenetic relationship among various groups of mammals is being re-evaluated. The original relationship between them has changed greatly at the level of order, family and species. The Catalogue also actively absorbed the latest achievements of these classification systems. For example, the "Cetaceans", which is a combination of Cetaceans and Artiodactyes, and the familiar bactrian camels, wild boar, roe deer, sika deer and wild yak are all in this new category. The original insectivora has now been divided into "African Hemiptera" and "Lauya insectivora", and the newly divided "Lauya insectivora" has been included in this Catalogue. Among them, the genus Anodonta can be further divided into island Anodonta, Taiwan Province Anodonta, South China Anodonta, Big Anodonta and Diaoyu Island.
China’s endangered animal population began to recover.
The Catalogue provides a reference for biodiversity protection.
Today, the mammals on the earth are facing threats such as habitat fragmentation, increased human activities, global climate change and frequent zoonotic major epidemics. According to the number of species, the rate of decline and the geographical distribution, IUCN classified the endangered degree of species into extinction (EX), wild extinction (EW), extremely endangered (CR), endangered (EN), vulnerable (VU) and near endangered (NT). If the grade is between "vulnerable" and "extremely dangerous", it means that the species has been threatened.
In recent years, China has attached great importance to the protection of ecological environment and biodiversity, and endangered animal populations such as giant panda, Siberian tiger and Tibetan antelope have begun to recover. Among them, the number of wild giant pandas reached more than 1860, and the threat level was reduced from "endangered" to "vulnerable". The number of Tibetan antelopes has also increased from less than 70,000 at the end of the 20th century to about 300,000 at present, and the threatened level has also dropped from "endangered" to "near-endangered".
Mastering the species diversity and taxonomic status of mammals is the basis of veterinary research and the premise of scientific protection of wild populations. Wei Fuwen said that the Catalogue of Mammals in China (2021 Edition) provided the latest basic information for the protection of mammal diversity in China; At the same time, in the process of revising the Catalogue, some issues such as the dispute of species classification, the promotion of subspecies to species, and the change of distribution area have been discovered, which have pointed out the important direction for the future study of mammal taxonomy.
Mammals endemic to China (link)
Mammals play an important role in maintaining ecological balance. People are also mammals, belonging to Mammalia-Primate-Hominidae-Hominidae.
China has a vast territory, complex terrain and diverse climate, and is one of the countries with the highest species diversity of mammals in the world. There are hundreds of endemic mammals, such as Anhui musk deer, black muntjac, muntjac, white-lipped deer, elk, Przewalski’s gazelle, Taiwan Province gazelle, baiji and Yangtze finless porpoise in cetaceans. Sichuan golden monkey, Yunnan golden monkey, Guizhou golden monkey, Hainan gibbon, Tibetan emirate monkey and Taiwan macaque in primates; Giant pandas and desert cats in Carnivora; Yunnan rabbits, Hainan rabbits, Tarim rabbits, etc.
—— Excerpted from Catalogue of Mammals in China (2021 Edition) and Research Progress of Mammals Classification and Phylogenetic Evolution in China.