''Galidictis'' is a genus in the subfamily Galidiinae of 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 ...

: a group 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 are endemic 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 ...

. The name is from two ancient Greek words that both approximately mean ‘weasel’: ''galid-'' (see '' Galidia'') and '' iktis''.''Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary'' attributes it to "NL, fr. Gk ''galideus'' young weasel + ''iktis'' yellow-breasted marten

weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slend ...

]." However, Lewis and Short describes ''ictis'' () as simply "a kind of weasel

''

Brill's New Pauly The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field o ...

'' likewise also writes that "/ may be a wease

Compare the word '' Galictis'' (grison, a closer relative of the weasel). It contains the following 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), ...

and two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

References

Euplerids Carnivoran genera Endemic fauna of Madagascar Taxa named by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{carnivora-stub