The Asiatic linsang (''Prionodon'') is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

comprising two

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

native to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

: the banded linsang (''Prionodon linsang'') and the spotted linsang (''Prionodon pardicolor''). ''Prionodon'' is considered a sister taxon of the

Felidae Felidae ( ) is the Family (biology), family of mammals in the Order (biology), order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant taxon, extant Felidae species exhibit the gre ...

Characteristics

The coat pattern of the Asiatic linsang is distinct, consisting of large spots that sometimes coalesce into broad bands on the sides of the body; the tail is banded transversely. It is small in size with a head and body length ranging from and a long tail. The tail is nearly as long as the head and body, and about five or six times as long as the hind foot. The head is elongated with a narrow muzzle,

rhinarium The rhinarium (Neo-Latin, "belonging to the nose"; : rhinaria) is the furless skin surface surrounding the external openings of the nostrils in many mammals. Commonly it is referred to as the tip of the ''snout'', and breeders of cats and dogs s ...

evenly convex above, with wide internarial

septum In biology, a septum (Latin language, Latin for ''something that encloses''; septa) is a wall, dividing a Body cavity, cavity or structure into smaller ones. A cavity or structure divided in this way may be referred to as septate. Examples Hum ...

, shallow infranarial portion, and

philtrum The philtrum (, from Ancient Greek , lit. 'love charm') or medial cleft is a vertical indentation in the middle area of the upper lip, common to therian mammals, extending in humans from the nasal septum to the tubercle of the upper lip. Toget ...

narrow and grooved, the groove extending only about to the level of the lower edge of the nostrils. The delicate skull is long, low, and narrow with a well defined occipital and a strong crest, but there is no complete

sagittal crest A sagittal crest is a ridge of bone running lengthwise along the midline of the top of the skull (at the sagittal suture) of many mammalian and reptilian skulls, among others. The presence of this ridge of bone indicates that there are excepti ...

. The teeth also are more highly specialized, and show an approach to those of Felidae, although more primitive. The dental formula is . The incisors form a transverse, not a curved, line; the first three upper and the four lower pre- molars are compressed and trenchant with a high, sharp, median

cusp A cusp is the most pointed end of a curve. It often refers to cusp (anatomy), a pointed structure on a tooth. Cusp or CUSP may also refer to: Mathematics * Cusp (singularity), a singular point of a curve * Cusp catastrophe, a branch of bifu ...

and small subsidiary cusps in front and behind it. The upper

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 ...

has a small inner lobe set far forwards, a small cusp in front of the main compressed, high, pointed cusp, and a compressed, blade-like posterior cusp; the upper molar is triangular, transversely set, much smaller than the upper carnassial, and much wider than it is long, so that the upper carnassial is nearly at the posterior end of the upper cheek-teeth as in Felidae.

Systematics

Taxonomic history

With Viverridae (morphological)

''Prionodon'' was denominated and first described by Thomas Horsfield in 1822, based on a linsang from

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

. He had placed the linsang under "section Prionodontidae" of the genus '' Felis'', because of similarities to both genera '' Viverra'' and ''Felis''.Horsfield, T. (1822)
''Illustration of'' Felis gracilis
i
''Zoological researches in Java, and the neighboring islands''
Kingsbury, Parbury and Allen, London. In 1864,

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray (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 for a z ...

placed the genera ''Prionodon'' and '' Poiana'' in the tribe Prionodontina, as part of

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

.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.

Reginald Innes Pocock Reginald Innes Pocock, (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a British zoologist. Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward's ...

initially followed Gray's classification, but the existence of scent glands in ''Poiana'' induced him provisionally to regard the latter as a specialized form of '' Genetta'', its likeness to ''Prionodon'' being possibly adaptive. Furthermore, the skeletal anatomy of Asiatic linsangs are said to be a mosaic of features of other viverrine-like mammals, as linsangs share cranial, postcranial and dental similarities with falanoucs, African palm civet, and oyans respectively.

With Felidae (molecular)

DNA analysis based on 29 species of

Carnivora Carnivora ( ) is an order of placental mammals specialized primarily in eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the sixth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species. Carnivor ...

, comprising 13 species of Viverrinae 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

is strongly supported, and it was proposed that the Asiatic linsangs be placed in the monogeneric family Prionodontidae.Gaubert, P. and Veron, G. (2003)
"Exhaustive sample set among Viverridae reveals the sister-group of felids: the linsangs as a case of extreme morphological convergence within Feliformia"
Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B, 270 (1532): 2523–2530. There is a physical

synapomorphy In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel Phenotypic trait, character or character state that has evolution, evolved from its ancestral form (or Plesiomorphy and symplesiomorphy, plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy sh ...

shared between felids and ''Prionodon'' in the presence of the specialized fused sacral vertebrae.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q847194, from2=Q11757624, from3=Q17465087 Mammals of Asia Taxa named by Thomas Horsfield Feliforms Mammals described in 1822