Site Information

About This Site

Lioncrusher's Domain, http://www.lioncrusher.com, and all sections within, are owned and maintained by a single author, Rebecca Postanowicz.  All information contained within is the culmination of research from various websites, books, magazine articles and scientific journals.  I am not an authority on taxonomy; this website is only a hobby.  I claim to the best of my knowledge that the information presented on this website is accurate and up-to-date, based on recent research by the leading authorities.  I try to be as unbiased as possible in my representation of the facts, giving a good cross-section of the known data about these animals.  I try to take the most accepted views as far as placing the animals in their respective taxons, physical attributes, range and distribution, and life information.

I follow the taxonomic authorities of ITIS. I try to keep up with taxonomic changes, and will continually change my database to reflect the latest acceptable taxons for the animals on my site.

All CITES information is taken directly from http://www.cites.org.  IUCN Red List information is taken from http://www.redlist.org.

Scientific Name Synonyms (last title in left-hand column) refers to archaic, former, and acceptable alternate scientific names for a particular species.  For some animals, this represents alternate species or genus names, or both.

Any references utilized in the creation of the information pages is referenced in the Links and References sections on each individual page.  I only use prominent sources in the creation of my pages.

Maps are approximations only!  They are not to be taken for how common or widespread an animal is.  They are estimations of the extremes of their known current range, and encompass their entire known extent.  Populations may be highly fragmented or very sparse within a shaded range area.

Many species are represented that have questionable taxonomic validity, either due to being poorly studies or being rare in the wild. Taxons change constantly.  Subspecies are granted species status, species are reclassified as subspecies of a related species, or new information comes about that changes the arrangement of animals within a family.  I have tried to provide the most accurate species list possible, but no two authorities have the exact same species list for a family.  Thus, I may have some species listed that may not appear in many other places, and I may be apparently missing some (ex: the kit fox, which is now considered conspecific with the swift fox).  I have to use my judgment and provide as many species on the list as seem valid, while trying to keep up with the constantly changing taxonomic community's opinions on the speciation and arrangement of animals within the families.  Sometimes I choose to update (ex: the new genus names for many species of Felidae, Canidae, and Herpestidae), and other times I may not depending on what makes sense to me.  I would sooner agree with elevating a subspecies to species status than collapsing two or more species together into one.  But I still try to take the most accepted view, the majority, on the placement of the animals in their respective taxons.

Rebecca Postanowicz, Webmaster, Lioncrusher.com, 2007.