rmdd is a tidyverse-style R package that wraps the Mammal Diversity
Database (MDD v2.4), the authoritative taxonomic checklist maintained
by the American Society of Mammalogists. The package bundles the
complete MDD release as ready-to-use tibbles and provides a multi-stage
name reconciliation pipeline to resolve mammal scientific names —
including synonyms, original combinations, and typographic variants —
against the current accepted taxonomy.
The MDD currently covers 6,871 mammal species (6,758 living wild + 113 recently extinct post-1500 CE), with over 64,683 synonymous names curated across 27 orders, 167 families, and 1,360 genera.
# Install the development version from GitHub:
# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("PaulESantos/rmdd")rmdd ships three datasets that are loaded lazily and available
immediately after library(rmdd):
| Dataset | Rows | Description |
|---|---|---|
mdd_checklist |
6,871 | Species-level checklist with 52 variables (taxonomy, distribution, IUCN status, type locality, cross-release flags) |
mdd_synonyms |
~64,683+ | Nomenclatural synonym table with 44 variables linking every known name combination to its accepted species |
mdd_type_specimen_metadata |
138 | Institutional metadata for natural history collections cited in the synonym table |
All column names are normalized from the original camelCase to
snake_case on import. The original column names are documented in the
help pages for each dataset.
library(rmdd)
# Reconcile a vector of names against MDD
mdd_matching(c("Puma concolor", "Felis concolor", "Pumma concolor"))
#> # A tibble: 3 × 51
#> input_index input_name orig_name orig_genus orig_subgenus orig_species
#> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 1 Puma concolor Puma concolor Puma <NA> concolor
#> 2 2 Felis concolor Felis concol… Felis <NA> concolor
#> 3 3 Pumma concolor Pumma concol… Pumma <NA> concolor
#> # ℹ 45 more variables: orig_subspecies <chr>, author <chr>,
#> # matched_name_id <chr>, matched_name <chr>, matched_author <chr>,
#> # taxon_status <chr>, accepted_id <chr>, accepted_name <chr>,
#> # accepted_author <chr>, is_accepted_name <lgl>, matched <lgl>,
#> # match_stage <chr>, direct_match <lgl>, genus_match <lgl>,
#> # fuzzy_match_genus <lgl>, direct_match_species_within_genus <lgl>,
#> # fuzzy_match_species_within_genus <lgl>, fuzzy_genus_dist <dbl>, …
# Retrieve full structured information for a taxon
mdd_taxon_info("Vicugna vicugna")
#>
#> ── Lama vicugna ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
#> Query: "Vicugna vicugna"
#> Matched name: "Vicugna vicugna" (synonym)
#> Taxon URL: <https://www.mammaldiversity.org/taxon/1006388/>
#> • Common name: "Vicuña"
#> • Authority: "G. I. Molina 1782"
#> • Order / Family: "Artiodactyla / Camelidae"
#> • IUCN / Extinct / Domestic: "LC (as Vicugna vicugna) / 0 / 0"
#> • Synonym records: 27
#>
#> ── Taxonomy ──
#>
#> • Subclass: "Theria"
#> • Infraclass: "Placentalia"
#> • Magnorder: "Boreoeutheria"
#> • Superorder: "Laurasiatheria"
#> • Order: "Artiodactyla"
#> • Suborder: "Tylopoda"
#> • Family: "Camelidae"
#> • Subfamily: "Camelinae"
#> • Tribe: "Lamini"
#> • Genus: "Lama"
#> • Specific epithet: "vicugna"
#> • Sci name: "Lama vicugna"
#>
#> ── Authority ──
#>
#> • Authority species author: "G. I. Molina"
#> • Authority species year: "1782"
#> • Authority parentheses: "1"
#> • Original name combination: "Camellus Vicugna"
#> • Authority species citation: "Molina, G.I. 1782. Saggio sulla storia naturale
#> del Chili. S. Tommaso d'Aquino, Bologna, 367 pp."
#> • Authority species link: "https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/idurl/1/9635"
#> • Nominal names: "vicugna (G. I. Molina, 1782)|vicunna (G. Cuvier, 1797)
#> [incorrect subsequent spelling]|vicunna Tiedemann, 1808 [unjustified
#> emendation]|vicuna (Illiger, 1815) [nomen nudum]|viconnia (Desmoulins, 1823)
#> [unjustified emendation]|vicugna Lesson, 1842 [not published with a generic
#> name]|vicunia (von Tschudi, 1844) [unjustified emendation]|vicuna (Schmarda,
#> 1853) [incorrect subsequent spelling]|frontosa (H. F. P. Gervais & F. Ameghino,
#> 1880)|gracilis (H. F. P. Gervais & F. Ameghino, 1880)|lujanensis (F. Ameghino,
#> 1889)|promesolithica (F. Ameghino, 1889)|azarae (F. P. Moreno & Mercerat,
#> 1891)|minuta (Burmeister, 1891)|pristina (F. Ameghino, 1891)|mensalis O.
#> Thomas, 1917|provicugna (Boule & Thevenin, 1920)|elfridae Krumbiegel, 1944"
#> • Synonym count: "27"
#>
#> ── Type information ──
#>
#> • Type voucher: "untraced (number not known)"
#> • Type kind: "nonexistent"
#> • Type locality: "Chile, \"abondano nella parte della Cordigliera spettante
#> alle Provincie de Coquimbo, e di Copiapó\" (Cordilleras of Coquimbo and Copiapó
#> in northern Chile)."
#>
#> ── Distribution ──
#>
#> • Country distribution: "Peru|Bolivia|Chile|Argentina"
#> • Continent distribution: "South America"
#> • Biogeographic realm: "Neotropic"
#>
#> ── Status ──
#>
#> • Main common name: "Vicuña"
#> • Other common names: "Argentine Vicuña|Peruvian Vicuña"
#> • Iucn status: "LC (as Vicugna vicugna)"
#> • Extinct: "0"
#> • Domestic: "0"
#> • Flagged: "0"
#> • Diff since cmw: "1"
#> • Msw3 matchtype: "sciname match"
#> • Diff since msw3: "0"
#>
#> ── Names and Synonyms ──
#>
#> # A tibble: 8 × 3
#> synonym validity nomenclature_status
#> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 Camellus Vicugna species available
#> 2 Camelus Vicugna synonym name_combination
#> 3 Camelus vicunna synonym incorrect_subsequent_spelling
#> 4 Lacma vicunna synonym unjustified_emendation
#> 5 Auchenia Vicuña synonym nomen_nudum
#> 6 Auchenia Vicunna synonym name_combination
#> 7 Lama vicugna synonym name_combination
#> 8 auchenia vicugna synonym name_combination
#> ... and 19 more synonym recordsThe reconciliation pipeline in mdd_matching() follows a waterfall of
five stages, moving from strict to relaxed evidence:
- Direct match — exact match on the cleaned full name or genus + epithet pair
- Exact genus — genus found in the MDD, regardless of species
- Fuzzy genus — genus matched by string distance (OSA by default, configurable)
- Exact species within matched genus — species epithet matched exactly within the resolved genus
- Fuzzy species within matched genus — species epithet matched by string distance
Every row in the output carries a match_stage label, pathway flags
(direct_match, fuzzy_match_genus, …), fuzzy distance columns, and
the full accepted-name context (accepted_id, accepted_name,
accepted_author).
# Parse a vector of names into taxonomic components
classify_mammal_names(c(
"Puma concolor",
"Capromys (Pygmaeocapromys) angelcabrerai",
"Mus musculus domesticus"
))
#> # A tibble: 3 × 15
#> sorter input_name orig_name orig_name_clean orig_genus orig_subgenus
#> <dbl> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 1 Puma concolor Puma con… puma concolor Puma <NA>
#> 2 2 Capromys (Pygmaeoca… Capromys… capromys (pygm… Capromys Pygmaeocapro…
#> 3 3 Mus musculus domest… Mus musc… mus musculus d… Mus <NA>
#> # ℹ 9 more variables: orig_species <chr>, orig_subspecies <chr>, author <chr>,
#> # rank <dbl>, has_cf <lgl>, has_aff <lgl>, is_sp <lgl>, is_spp <lgl>,
#> # had_hybrid <lgl>
mdd_matching("Cricetus cricetus")
#> # A tibble: 1 × 51
#> input_index input_name orig_name orig_genus orig_subgenus orig_species
#> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 1 Cricetus cricetus Cricetus … Cricetus <NA> cricetus
#> # ℹ 45 more variables: orig_subspecies <chr>, author <chr>,
#> # matched_name_id <chr>, matched_name <chr>, matched_author <chr>,
#> # taxon_status <chr>, accepted_id <chr>, accepted_name <chr>,
#> # accepted_author <chr>, is_accepted_name <lgl>, matched <lgl>,
#> # match_stage <chr>, direct_match <lgl>, genus_match <lgl>,
#> # fuzzy_match_genus <lgl>, direct_match_species_within_genus <lgl>,
#> # fuzzy_match_species_within_genus <lgl>, fuzzy_genus_dist <dbl>, …# Country-level mammal diversity summary
mdd_distribution_summary(level = "country")
#> # A tibble: 242 × 7
#> region orders families genera living_species extinct_species total_species
#> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <int> <int> <int>
#> 1 Indonesia 17 58 241 793 4 797
#> 2 Brazil 11 51 250 785 3 788
#> 3 China 12 56 259 746 0 746
#> 4 Mexico 12 45 205 585 4 589
#> 5 Peru 13 55 229 582 0 582
#> 6 Colombia 13 51 213 532 0 532
#> 7 Democrat… 15 55 208 510 0 510
#> 8 United S… 9 41 164 488 3 491
#> 9 Ecuador 13 51 202 454 0 454
#> 10 India 12 51 202 438 0 438
#> # ℹ 232 more rows
# Continent-level, excluding domesticated species
mdd_distribution_summary(
level = "continent",
exclude_domesticated = TRUE
)
#> # A tibble: 7 × 7
#> region orders families genera living_species extinct_species total_species
#> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <int> <int> <int>
#> 1 Asia 15 75 494 2157 11 2168
#> 2 Africa 15 80 395 1624 9 1633
#> 3 South Ame… 14 62 363 1598 9 1607
#> 4 North Ame… 12 63 325 1096 41 1137
#> 5 Oceania (… 11 44 200 738 42 780
#> 6 Europe 6 38 129 324 2 326
#> 7 Antarctica 2 8 19 27 0 27
# Distribution map (requires rnaturalearth + rnaturalearthdata)
mdd_distribution_map("Tremarctos ornatus", zoom = "auto")
#>
#> ── Distribution Map ──
#>
#> ✔ Exact input match: "Tremarctos ornatus"
#> ℹ Accepted taxon used for mapping: "Tremarctos ornatus"
#> ℹ Zoom mode: "auto"
#> ✔ Mapped 6 of 6 distribution units.
mdd_distribution_map("Lama vicugna", quiet = TRUE)
# Formatted MDD dataset citation
mdd_reference()
#>
#> ── MDD Citation ──
#>
#> Mammal Diversity Database. (2026). Mammal Diversity Database (Version 2.4)
#> [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17033774
#> DOI: <https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17033774>library(rmdd)
library(tidyverse)
#> ── Attaching core tidyverse packages ──────────────────────── tidyverse 2.0.0 ──
#> ✔ dplyr 1.2.0 ✔ readr 2.2.0
#> ✔ forcats 1.0.1 ✔ stringr 1.6.0
#> ✔ ggplot2 4.0.2 ✔ tibble 3.3.1
#> ✔ lubridate 1.9.5 ✔ tidyr 1.3.2
#> ✔ purrr 1.2.1
#> ── Conflicts ────────────────────────────────────────── tidyverse_conflicts() ──
#> ✖ dplyr::filter() masks stats::filter()
#> ✖ dplyr::lag() masks stats::lag()
#> ℹ Use the conflicted package (<http://conflicted.r-lib.org/>) to force all conflicts to become errors
# 1. A list with spelling variants and synonyms
names_to_check <- c(
"Panthera onca",
"Felis onca", # historical combination
"Panthera onkca", # typo
"Lontra longicaudis",
"Lutra longicaudis" # synonym
)
# 2. Run the reconciliation pipeline
result <- mdd_matching(names_to_check,
allow_duplicates = TRUE)
#> Warning: ! Multiple fuzzy matches for some species within genus (tied distances).
#> ℹ The first match is selected.
# 3. Inspect results
result |>
select(input_name, matched_name, taxon_status,
accepted_name, matched, match_stage)
#> # A tibble: 5 × 6
#> input_name matched_name taxon_status accepted_name matched match_stage
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <lgl> <chr>
#> 1 Panthera onca Panthera on… accepted Panthera onca TRUE direct_mat…
#> 2 Felis onca Felis onca synonym Panthera onca TRUE direct_mat…
#> 3 Panthera onkca Panthera on… accepted Panthera onca TRUE fuzzy_matc…
#> 4 Lontra longicaudis Lontra long… accepted Lontra longi… TRUE direct_mat…
#> 5 Lutra longicaudis Lutra longi… synonym Lontra longi… TRUE direct_mat…
# 4. Full taxon profile for one species
mdd_taxon_info("Panthera onca")
#>
#> ── Panthera onca ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
#> Query: "Panthera onca"
#> Matched name: "Panthera onca" (accepted)
#> Taxon URL: <https://www.mammaldiversity.org/taxon/1006021/>
#> • Common name: "Jaguar"
#> • Authority: "Linnaeus 1758"
#> • Order / Family: "Carnivora / Felidae"
#> • IUCN / Extinct / Domestic: "NT / 0 / 0"
#> • Synonym records: 70
#>
#> ── Taxonomy ──
#>
#> • Subclass: "Theria"
#> • Infraclass: "Placentalia"
#> • Magnorder: "Boreoeutheria"
#> • Superorder: "Laurasiatheria"
#> • Order: "Carnivora"
#> • Suborder: "Feliformia"
#> • Infraorder: "Aeluroidea"
#> • Superfamily: "Feloidea"
#> • Family: "Felidae"
#> • Subfamily: "Pantherinae"
#> • Genus: "Panthera"
#> • Subgenus: "Jaguarius"
#> • Specific epithet: "onca"
#> • Sci name: "Panthera onca"
#>
#> ── Authority ──
#>
#> • Authority species author: "Linnaeus"
#> • Authority species year: "1758"
#> • Authority parentheses: "1"
#> • Original name combination: "Felis Onca"
#> • Authority species citation: "Linnaeus, C. 1758-01-01. Systema naturæ per
#> regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum
#> characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima,
#> reformata. Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm, 823 pp."
#> • Authority species link: "https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25033834"
#> • Nominal names: "onca (Linnaeus, 1758)|nigra (Erxleben, 1777)|jaguara (G.
#> Forster, 1780) [nomen novum]|iaguar (Link, 1795) [nomen novum]|brasiliensis (H.
#> R. Schinz, 1821)|minor (J. B. Fischer, 1829)|major (J. B. Fischer,
#> 1830)|peruviana (de Blainville, 1843)|onza (von Tschudi, 1844) [incorrect
#> subsequent spelling]|hernandesii (J. E. Gray, 1858)|longifrons (Burmeister,
#> 1866)|alba Fitzinger, 1869 [infrasubspecific | preoccupied]|augusta (Leidy,
#> 1872)|jaguapara (Liais, 1872)|jaguarete (Liais, 1872)|jaguatyrica (Liais,
#> 1872)|palustris (F. Ameghino, 1888)|antiqua (F. Ameghino, 1889)
#> [preoccupied]|fossilis (F. Ameghino, 1889) [nomen novum |
#> preoccupied]|centralis (Mearns, 1901)|goldmani (Mearns, 1901)|goldmanni
#> (Trouessart, 1904) [incorrect subsequent spelling]|hernandezi (Trouessart,
#> 1904) [incorrect subsequent spelling]|proplatensis (F. Ameghino, 1904)|mexianae
#> (Hagmann, 1908)|onssa (von Ihering, 1911) [unjustified emendation]|notialis
#> (Hollister, 1914)|paraguensis (Hollister, 1914)|veronis (Hay, 1919)|ramsayi (F.
#> W. Miller, 1930) [nomen novum]|arizonensis (E. A. Goldman, 1932)|boliviensis
#> (E. W. Nelson & E. A. Goldman, 1933)|coxi (E. W. Nelson & E. A. Goldman,
#> 1933)|madeirae (E. W. Nelson & E. A. Goldman, 1933)|milleri (E. W. Nelson & E.
#> A. Goldman, 1933)|paulensis (E. W. Nelson & E. A. Goldman, 1933)|ucayalae (E.
#> W. Nelson & E. A. Goldman, 1933)|veraecrucis (E. W. Nelson & E. A. Goldman,
#> 1933)|andina Hoffstetter, 1952|jaguar (Cabrera, 1958) [incorrect subsequent
#> spelling]|gikdnabu Wozencraft, 2005 [nomen nudum | not used as
#> valid]|veraecruscis Wozencraft, 2005 [incorrect subsequent spelling]|hernandesi
#> D. E. Wilson & Mittermeier, 2009 [incorrect subsequent spelling]"
#> • Synonym count: "70"
#>
#> ── Type information ──
#>
#> • Type voucher: "untraced (number not known)"
#> • Type kind: "nonexistent"
#> • Type locality: "Pernambuco, Brazil."
#>
#> ── Distribution ──
#>
#> • Subregion distribution: "USA(AZ)"
#> • Country distribution: "United
#> States|Mexico|Guatemala|Belize|Honduras|Nicaragua|Costa
#> Rica|Panama|Colombia|Venezuela|Guyana|Suriname|French
#> Guiana|Ecuador|Peru|Brazil|Bolivia|Paraguay|Argentina"
#> • Continent distribution: "North America|South America"
#> • Biogeographic realm: "Nearctic|Neotropic"
#>
#> ── Status ──
#>
#> • Main common name: "Jaguar"
#> • Iucn status: "NT"
#> • Extinct: "0"
#> • Domestic: "0"
#> • Flagged: "0"
#> • Diff since cmw: "0"
#> • Msw3 matchtype: "sciname match"
#> • Diff since msw3: "0"
#>
#> ── Names and Synonyms ──
#> # A tibble: 8 × 3
#> synonym validity nomenclature_status
#> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 Felis Onca species available
#> 2 Felis nigra synonym available
#> 3 Felis (Jaguara) synonym nomen_novum
#> 4 Felis Iaguar synonym nomen_novum
#> 5 Felix Onca synonym name_combination
#> 6 Felis brasiliensis synonym available
#> 7 Felis Onca Minor synonym available
#> 8 Felis Onca Major synonym available
#> ... and 62 more synonym records
# 5. Distribution map
mdd_distribution_map("Panthera onca", zoom = "auto")
#>
#> ── Distribution Map ──
#>
#> ✔ Exact input match: "Panthera onca"
#> ℹ Accepted taxon used for mapping: "Panthera onca"
#> ℹ Zoom mode: "world"
#> ✔ Mapped 18 of 19 distribution units.
#> Warning: 1 distribution unit could not be located in rnaturalearth.
#> ! 1 unit remains unresolved.
#> • "French Guiana"
The MDD is maintained by the American Society of Mammalogists and tracks all taxonomic changes to living and recently extinct mammal species (post-1500 CE) in real time. The current release is v2.4 (January 2, 2026).
Key MDD v2.4 statistics:
| Taxa | Count |
|---|---|
| Total species | 6,871 |
| Living wild species | 6,741 |
| Recently extinct (post-1500 CE) | 113 |
| Domestic species | 17 |
| Genera | 1,360 |
| Families | 167 |
| Orders | 27 |
| Synonymous names | 64,683+ |
The MDD v2 introduced geographic distribution codings at the country, US state, continent, and biogeographic realm levels, a comprehensive nomenclatural synonym dataset with type locality and specimen information curated in coordination with Hesperomys and Batnames, and a redesigned website with advanced search and data visualization.
citation("rmdd")
#> To cite rmdd in publications, please use:
#>
#> To cite the rmdd package in publications, please use:
#>
#> Santos Andrade, P. E. (2026). rmdd: Mammal Diversity Database Tools
#> for R. R package version 0.0.1. https://github.com/PaulESantos/rmdd
#>
#> The mammal taxonomy bundled in this package is based on:
#>
#> Mammal Diversity Database. (2026). Mammal Diversity Database (Version
#> 2.4) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17033774
#>
#> Burgin, C. J., Zijlstra, J. S., Becker, M. A., Handika, H., Alston,
#> J. M., Widness, J., Liphardt, S., Huckaby, D. G., and Upham, N. S.
#> (2025). How many mammal species are there now? Updates and trends in
#> taxonomic, nomenclatural, and geographic knowledge. Journal of
#> Mammalogy, in press. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.27.640393
#>
#> To see these entries in BibTeX format, use 'print(<citation>,
#> bibtex=TRUE)', 'toBibtex(.)', or set
#> 'options(citation.bibtex.max=999)'.Mammal Diversity Database. (2026). Mammal Diversity Database (Version 2.4) [Data set].
Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17033774
Use mdd_reference() to generate a correctly formatted citation from
within R, including taxon-level entry citations when needed.
Burgin, C. J., Zijlstra, J. S., Becker, M. A., Handika, H., Alston, J. M., Widness, J., Liphardt, S., Huckaby, D. G., and Upham, N. S. (2025). How many mammal species are there now? Updates and trends in taxonomic, nomenclatural, and geographic knowledge. Journal of Mammalogy in press. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.27.640393
Burgin, C. J., Colella, J. P., Kahn, P. L., and Upham, N. S. (2018). How many species of mammals are there? Journal of Mammalogy 99: 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyx147
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome at https://github.com/PaulESantos/rmdd/issues.