Taxonomic Merge 25895 (Committed on 2017-10-20)

Cervus canadensis nelsoni and Cervus canadensis manitobensis are not considered separate taxa from the nominate Cervus canadensis canadensis, which was previously recognized as the "Eastern Elk", the extirpated wapiti population east of the Mississippi. The IUCN typically notes recently extirpated taxa, but instead claims C. c. canandensis represents the majority of the North American population. (http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/55997823/0) This reflects increasing consensus among geneticists that subspecific taxa for the wapiti are inflated (Ludt et al., 2004). (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790303003841?via%3Dihub) Some authorities would go so far as to say there is only one subspecies in North America (meaning it would include the Tule and Roosevelt Elks), but until greater consensus emerges regarding that information, it is safer to conform to iNat's databases.

Cervus canadensis (errata version pub... (Citation)
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Added by bobby23 on October 20, 2017 05:49 PM | Committed by bobby23 on October 20, 2017
merged into

Comments

@john8 @joshuagsmith, you two seem to be pretty familiar with this species. Does my reasoning sound good? I'm hesitant to make such an immediate change for an organism with so many observations attributed to it.

Posted by bobby23 over 6 years ago

I haven't studied Elk subspecies and, therefore, do not feel qualified to make any suggestions here. Can I help you by finding some mammal biologists on iNat?

Posted by joshuagsmith over 6 years ago

I'm not sure how necessary that would be. I was just curious if you or anyone else had any strong feelings for keeping the Rocky Mountain Elk distinct. Generally, I feel that many megafauna subspecies are designated arbitrarily.

Posted by bobby23 over 6 years ago

Bobby, I'm on more or less the same page as Joshua. Although I frequently attempt to designate Elk to subspecies (Rocky Mountain, Roosevelt and Tule), I only do so because, as with many distinctive bird subspecies, I've learned to recognize them over the years and so ID observations to the most specific level possible. However, I am certainly no expert on the matter, and if we simply lump all subspecies into one, that wouldn't bother me too much.

Posted by john8 over 6 years ago

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