The Viverrinae represent the largest

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...

within the

Viverridae Viverridae is a family (biology), family of small to medium-sized, feliform mammals. The viverrids () comprise 33 species placed in 14 genera. This family was named and first described by John Edward Gray in 1821. Viverrids occur all over Africa, ...

comprising five

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

, which are subdivided into 22

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 the appropriat ...

native to Africa and Southeast Asia. This subfamily was denominated and first described by

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used f ...

in 1864.Gray, J. E. (1864)
''A revision of the genera and species of viverrine animals (Viverridae), founded on the collection in the British Museum''
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for the year 1864: 502–579.

Classification

Gray defined the Viverrinae as comprising the genera ''

Proteles ''Proteles'' is a genus of distinctive hyenas which contain the aardwolf The aardwolf (''Proteles cristata'') is an insectivorous species of hyena, native to East and Southern Africa. Its name means "earth-wolf" in Afrikaans and Dutch. It is ...

'', ''

Viverra ''Viverra'' is a mammalian genus that was first nominated and described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 as comprising several species including the large Indian civet (''V. zibetha''). The genus was subordinated to the viverrid family by John Edward ...

'', ''Bassaris'' and '' Viverricula''. He subordinated the genera '' Genetta'' and ''Fossa'' to the Genettina, the genera '' Prionodon'' and ''Poiana'' to the Prionodontinae.

Reginald Innes Pocock Reginald Innes Pocock Fellow of the Royal Society, F.R.S. (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a British zoologist. Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock (historian), Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He ...

suggested that the African genets (''Genetta'') are also most nearly related to the Viverrinae, but should perhaps form a separate subfamily.Pocock, R. I. (1939)
''The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Mammalia. – Volume 1''
Taylor and Francis, London. William King Gregory and Milo Hellman placed the ''Viverra'', ''Viverricula'', ''Civettictis'', ''Genetta'', '' Osbornictis'', ''Poiana'' and the

North-America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

n eu creodine genera '' Didymictis'' and ''Viverravus'' of the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...

into this viverrid subfamily.Gregory, W. K., and M. Hellman. (1939)
''On the evolution and major classification of the civets (Viverridae) and allied fossil and recent Carnivora: Phylogenetic study of the skull and dentition''
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 81 (3): 309–392. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott also included the genus '' Prionodon''.Ellerman, J. R., Morrison-Scott, T. C. S. (1966)
''Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian mammals 1758 to 1946''
Second edition. British Museum of Natural History, London.

DNA analysis Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

based on 29

Carnivora Carnivora is a Clade, monophyletic order of Placentalia, placental mammals consisting of the most recent common ancestor of all felidae, cat-like and canidae, dog-like animals, and all descendants of that ancestor. Members of this group are f ...

species comprising 13 Viverrinae species and three species representing '' Paradoxurus'', ''

Paguma The masked palm civet (''Paguma larvata''), also called the gem-faced civet, is a palm civet species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 as it occurs in many p ...

'' and

Hemigalinae The Hemigalinae are a subfamily of the viverrids denominated and first described by John Edward Gray in 1864. Hemigalinae species are native to Southeast Asia from southern China through Indochina, Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Borneo and Sulawesi. ...

supports the placement of ''Prionodon'' in the

monogeneric In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

family Prionodontidae as the sister-group of the ''

Felidae Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the dom ...

''. These investigations also clarified the controversial issue of the boundaries of this subfamily supporting the Viverrinae as being constituted by two

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...

groups, namely the terrestrial civets ''Civettictis''–''Viverra''–''Viverricula'' and ''Poiana''–''Genetta''. At present, the Viverrinae comprise:

Characteristics

Viverrina species have a robust body. There is a deep pouch for secreting in the form of a deep cavity on each side of the

anus The anus (Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, the residual semi-solid waste that remains after food digestion, which, ...

. The back of the hind feet is hairy except the pad of the toes and the

metatarsus The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the me ...

. The

digitigrade In terrestrial vertebrates, digitigrade () locomotion is walking or running on the toes (from the Latin ''digitus'', 'finger', and ''gradior'', 'walk'). A digitigrade animal is one that stands or walks with its toes (metatarsals) touching the groun ...

feet are adapted for movement on the ground. The cushion-like indistinctly subdivided plantar pad and the pads of digits 2 to 4 are alone applied to the ground. The first digit is small and set well above the plantar pad, and constitutes a practically functionless " dew-claw". The

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolog ...

is: . The outstanding characteristics of the modern Viverrinae are the high development of the perineal scent glands, the marked

anteroposterior Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

elongation of the ento tympanic chamber of the compound bulla and the

carnassial Carnassials are paired upper and lower teeth modified in such a way as to allow enlarged and often self-sharpening edges to pass by each other in a shearing manner. This adaptation is found in carnivorans, where the carnassials are the modified f ...

form of the cheek-teeth. They have excellent hearing and vision. Their flesh-shearing

teeth are relatively undeveloped. Viverrids are amongst the primitive families of the

, with skeletons very similar to those of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s dating back to the

, up to 50 million years ago. They are variable in form, but generally resemble long-nosed cats. Most have retractile or partially retractile

claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tarsus ...

s, a

baculum The baculum (also penis bone, penile bone, or ''os penis'', ''os genitale'' or ''os priapi'') is a bone found in the penis of many placental mammals. It is absent from the human penis, but present in the penises of some primates, such as the ...

. The Viverrinae range in size from the African linsang with a body length of and a weight of to the African civet at and .

Distribution and ecology

This subfamily is found throughout the

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of '' Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

al region, and is represented in Africa by the African civet (''Civettictis civetta''). The common genet (''Genetta genetta'') is considered to have been introduced to Europe and the

Balearic islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

, and occurs in all of continental Portugal, Spain and most of France.Delibes, M. (1999). ''Genetta genetta''. In: A. J. Mitchell-Jones, G. Amori, W. Bogdanowicz, B. Kryštufek, P. J. H. Reijnders, F. Spitzenberger, M. Stubbe, J. B. M. Thissen, V. Vohralík, and J. Zima (eds.) ''The Atlas of European Mammals''. Academic Press, London, UK They are generally solitary and

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 ...

, despite their placement in the order Carnivora.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q198350 Viverrids Taxa named by John Edward Gray