Euplerinae, more commonly known as malagasy civets, is a
subfamily of
carnivora
Carnivora is a monophyletic order of placental mammals consisting of the most recent common ancestor of all cat-like and dog-like animals, and all descendants of that ancestor. Members of this group are formally referred to as carnivorans, ...
ns that includes four species restricted to
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. Together with the subfamily
Galidiinae, which also only occurs on Madagascar, it forms the family
Eupleridae
Eupleridae is a Family (biology), family of carnivorans endemic to Madagascar and comprising 10 known living species in seven genus, genera, commonly known as euplerids, Malagasy mongooses or Malagasy carnivorans. The best known species is t ...
. Members of this subfamily, which include the
fossa
Fossa may refer to:
Animals
* Fossa (animal), the common name of a carnivoran mammal of genus ''Cryptoprocta'' endemic to Madagascar
* ''Fossa'', the Latin genus name of the Malagasy civet, a related but smaller mammal endemic to Madagascar
Pla ...
(''Cryptoprocta ferox''),
falanoucs (''Eupleres goudotii'' and ''Eupleres major'') and
Malagasy civet (''Fossa fossana''), were placed in families like
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 ...
and
Viverridae before genetic data indicated their consanguinity with other Madagascar carnivorans. Within the subfamily, the falanouc and Malagasy civet are more closely related to each other than to the fossa.
Classification
Phylogenetic tree
The phylogenetic relationships of Malagasy civets (Euplerinae) are shown in the following cladogram:
See also
*
List of mammals of Madagascar
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q745389
Euplerids