The rusty-spotted genet (''Genetta maculata''), also called panther genet and large-spotted genet, is a genet that is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. It is considered common and therefore listed as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. Th ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Characteristics

The rusty-spotted genet has short whitish grey to pale yellow coloured fur with dark spots and a continuous dark line across the back. The spots of the upper two dorsal rows are round or square, brown in the center and darker outside. In head-to-body length it ranges from . Its long tail is ringed and has a dark tip. Its feet are of the same colour as the fur. It weighs from .

Behaviour and ecology

Research in southeastern

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

revealed that the rusty-spotted genet has an

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

diet. It feeds on

rodents Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

like giant pouched rats (''Cricetomys''),

Nigerian shrew The Nigerian shrew (''Crocidura nigeriae'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. The animal is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Togo, and there are claims of it also being found in Ghana Ghana (; t ...

(''Crocidura nigeriae''),

Temminck's mouse Temminck's mouse (''Mus musculoides'') is a species of the genus '' Mus'' and of the subgenus '' Nannomys''. It is found throughout West Africa, Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various c ...

(''Mus musculoides''),

Tullberg's soft-furred mouse Tullberg's soft-furred mouse or Tullberg's praomys (''Praomys tullbergi'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae in Africa. It is found in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equato ...

(''Praomys tulbergi''),

Peters's striped mouse Peters's striped mouse or Peters's hybomys (''Hybomys univittatus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equ ...

(''Hybomys univittatus''),

typical striped grass mouse The typical striped grass mouse (''Lemniscomys striatus'') is a small rodent of the suborder Myomorpha in the family Muridae. Taxonomy ''Lemniscomys striatus'' comprises a complex of various similar species.van der Straeten, E., Decher, J., Cort ...

(''Lemniscomys striatus''), red-eyed dove (''Streptopelia semitorquata''),

common agama The common agama, red-headed rock agama or rainbow agama (''Agama agama'') is a species of lizard from the family Agamidae found in most of sub-Saharan Africa. To clear up historical confusion based on Linnaeus and other authors, Wagner, et al. ...

(''Agama agama''), ''

Mabuya ''Mabuya'' is a genus of long-tailed skinks restricted to species from various Caribbean islands. They are primarily carnivorous, though many are omnivorous. The genus is viviparous, having a highly evolved placenta that resembles that of euthe ...

'' skinks,

Myriapoda Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. The fossil record of myriapods reaches back into the late Silurian, ...

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grass ...

and

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

as well as eggs, fruits, berries and seeds.

Taxonomy

In 1830,

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoology, zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ...

first described a rusty-spotted genet using the name ''Viverra maculata'' based on a

zoological specimen A zoological specimen is an animal or part of an animal preserved for scientific use. Various uses are: to verify the identity of a (species), to allow study, increase public knowledge of zoology. Zoological specimens are extremely diverse. Exampl ...

that lived in the

menagerie A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern zoological garden. The term was first used in 17th-century France, in reference to the ...

at the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sepa ...

. In the 19th and 20th centuries, several taxonomists proposed the following

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

and subspecies for specimens obtained by

natural history museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

s: *''fieldiana''

Du Chaillu Paul Belloni Du Chaillu (July 31, 1831 (disputed)April 29, 1903) was a French-American traveler, zoologist, and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860s as the first modern European outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later ...

, 1860 *''aequatorialis''

Heuglin Martin Theodor von Heuglin (20 March 1824, Hirschlanden, Württemberg5 November 1876), was a German explorer and ornithologist. Biography Heuglin was born in Hirschlanden (now part of Ditzingen) in Württemberg. His father was a Protestant past ...

, 1866 *''erlangeri'', ''gleimi'', ''schraderi'', ''stuhlmanni'', ''suahelica'', ''zambesiana'' Matschie, 1902 *''matschiei''

Neumann Neumann is German language, German and Yiddish language, Yiddish for "new man", and one of the List of the most common surnames in Europe#Germany, 20 most common German surnames. People * Von Neumann family, a Jewish Hungarian noble family A� ...

, 1902 *''pumila'' Hollister, 1916 *''insularis'' Cabrera, 1921 *''rubiginosa zuluensis''

Roberts Roberts may refer to: People * Roberts (given name), a Latvian masculine given name * Roberts (surname), a popular surname, especially among the Welsh Places * Roberts (crater), a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon ;United Stat ...

, 1924 *''soror'' Schwarz, 1929 *''rubiginosa albiventris'' Roberts, 1932 *''deorum'' Funaioli and Simonetta, 1960 *''pardina schoutedeni'' Crawford-Cabral, 1970 '' Genetta letabae'' (

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the ...

and Schwann, 1906), formerly considered a subspecies, is now thought to be a separate species.

References

rusty-spotted genet Mammals of Sub-Saharan Africa rusty-spotted genet rusty-spotted genet {{carnivora-stub