Almost all viverrids outside the subfamily
Genettinae are commonly called civets, but some
civets are not viverrids. Animals of the subfamily Genettinae are known as
genets and
oyans. The word viverridae comes from the Latin viverra '
ferret', but ferrets are in a different family, the
Mustelidae.
Characteristics
Viverrids have four or five toes on each foot and half-retractile
claws. They have six
incisors in each jaw and
molars with two tubercular grinders behind in the upper jaw, and one in the lower jaw. The tongue is rough with sharp prickles. A pouch or
gland occurs beneath the anus, but there is no
cecum.[3]
Viverrids are the most primitive of all the families of
feliformCarnivora and clearly less specialized than the
Felidae. In external characteristics, they are distinguished from the Felidae by the longer muzzle and tuft of facial
vibrissae between the
lower jaw bones, and by the shorter limbs and the five-toed hind foot with the first digit present. The skull differs by the position of the
postpalatine foramina on the
maxilla, almost always well in advance of the maxillopalatine
suture, and usually about the level of the second
premolar; and by the distinct external division of the
auditory bulla into its two elements either by a definite groove or, when rarely this is obliterated, by the depression of the
tympanic bone in front of the swollen entotympanic. The typical
dental formula is: 3.1.4.23.1.4.2, but the number may be reduced, although never to the same extent as in the Felidae.[4]
Their flesh-shearing
carnassial teeth are relatively undeveloped compared to those of other feliform carnivorans.[5] Most viverrid species have a penis bone (a
baculum).[6]
Classification
Living species
In 1821, Gray defined this family as consisting of the genera Viverra, Genetta, Herpestes, and
Suricata.[3]Reginald Innes Pocock later redefined the family as containing a great number of highly diversified genera, and being susceptible of division into several
subfamilies, based mainly on the structure of the feet and of some highly specialized
scent glands, derived from the skin, which are present in most of the species and are situated in the region of the external generative organs. He subordinated the subfamilies
Hemigalinae,
Paradoxurinae,
Prionodontinae, and
Viverrinae to the Viverridae.[4]
In 1833,
Edward Turner Bennett described the Malagasy
fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) and subordinated the Cryptoprocta to the Viverridae.[7] A
molecular and
morphological analysis based on
DNA/DNA hybridization experiments suggests that Cryptoprocta does not belong within Viverridae, but is a member of the
Eupleridae.[8]
The
African palm civet (Nandinia binotata) resembles the civets of the Viverridae, but is genetically distinct and belongs in its own
monotypic family, the
Nandiniidae. There is little dispute that the Poiana species are viverrids.[2]
DNA analysis based on 29
Carnivora species, comprising 13 Viverrinae species and three species representing Paradoxurus, Paguma and
Hemigalinae, confirmed Pocock's assumption that the African linsang Poiana represents the
sister group of the genus Genetta. The placement of Prionodon as the sister group of the family
Felidae is strongly supported, and it was proposed that the Asiatic linsangs be placed in the
monogeneric family
Prionodontidae.[9]
^
abcPocock, R. I. (1939).
"Family Viverridae". The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Vol. Mammalia. – Volume 1. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 330–332.
^
abLinnaeus, C. (1758).
"Viverra". Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis 1 (Tenth ed.). Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius. pp. 43–45.
^Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, E. (1803).
"La Civette de l'Inde". Catalogue des Mammifères du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris: Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. p. 113.
^Schreber, J. C. D. (1778).
"Die Civette Viverra civetta". Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen. Erlangen: Wolfgang Walther. pp. 418–420.
^Pallas, P. S. (1778).
"Das Zwitterstinkthier". In Schreber, J. C. D. (ed.). Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen. Erlangen: Wolfgang Walther. p. 426.
^Pallas, P. S. (1778).
"Der Boshond". In Schreber, J. C. D. (ed.). Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen. Erlangen: Wolfgang Walther. p. 451.
^Gray, J. E. (1831).
"Paguma". Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London. Vol. 1. London: Zoological Society of London. p. 95.
^Smith, C.H. (1827).
"Gulo larvatus, the Masked Glutton". In Griffith, E. (ed.). The animal kingdom : arranged in conformity with its organization. Vol. 2. Mammalia. London: G.B. Whittaker. p. 281.
^Linnaeus, C. (1758).
"Viverra genetta". Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis 1 (Tenth ed.). Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius. p. 45.
^Schreber, J. C. D. (1778).
"Die Bisamkaze Viverra tigrina". Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen. Vol. Dritter Theil. Erlangen: Walther. pp. 425–426.
^Gray, J. E. (1828).
"Viverra maculata". Spicilegia zoologica : original figures and short systematic descriptions of new and unfigured animals. London: Treuttel, Wurtz & Co. p. 9.
^Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, I. (1832).
"Descriptions d'une nouvelle espèce du genre Genette. Genetta. Cuv.". Études Zoologiques : Ouvrage comprenant l'histoire et la description d'un grand nombre d'animaux récemment découverts et des observations nouvelles sur plusieurs genres déjà connus. Paris: Lequien Fils. p. 73.
^Rüppell, E. (1835).
"Viverra abyssinica. Rüppell". Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig. Frankfurt: Siegmund Schmerber.
^
abDehghani, R. & Werdelin, L. (2008). "A new small carnivoran from the Middle Miocene of Fort Ternan, Kenya". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 248 (2): 233–244.
doi:
10.1127/0077-7749/2008/0248-0233.