Euplerinae, more commonly known as Malagasy civets, is a
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
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 ...
ns that includes four species restricted to
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
. 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 (''Cryptoprocta ferox''),
falanoucs (''Eupleres goudotii'' and ''Eupleres major'') and
Malagasy civet (''Fossa fossana''), were placed in families like
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 ...
and
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, ...
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
This is a list of the native wild mammal species recorded in Madagascar. As of June 2014 (following the IUCN reassessment of the lemurs) there are 241 extant taxon, extant mammal species recognized in Madagascar, of which 22 are critically endanger ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q745389
Euplerids
Taxa named by Jean-Charles Chenu