Viverridae

The Viverridae is a family of small to medium-sized carnivorous mammals. It includes 14 different groups, called genera, with 33 known species. This family was first described by a scientist named John Edward Gray in the year 1821.

These animals can be found living in many parts of the world, including all of Africa, parts of southern Europe, and across South and Southeast Asia. Some of them live on both sides of a natural boundary called the Wallace Line.

Inside this family, there are different groups with special names. The animals in the group called Genettinae are known as genets and oyans. Others, in the group Viverrinae, are commonly called civets. The animals in the groups Paradoxurinae and most Hemigalinae are usually called palm civets. These animals are all part of the larger group of animals called feliform mammals, which includes cats and related species.

Characteristics

Viverrids have four or five toes on each foot and claws that can partly be pulled in. They have six small teeth at the front of their mouths and molars with two grinding surfaces in the upper jaw and one in the lower jaw. Their tongues are rough with sharp points. Males have a special opening at the back.

These animals are among the simplest kinds of cat-like carnivores, with longer faces and tufts of hair between their lower jaw bones compared to true cats. Their skulls have special features, like the position of certain holes and the way their ear bones are shaped. Most of them have a small bone inside their bodies.

Classification

In 1821, a scientist named John Edward Gray described a group of small to medium-sized animals called Viverridae. This group includes animals like genets, mangosteens, and the African civet. Later, another scientist named Reginald Pocock studied these animals and suggested they could be divided into smaller groups based on features like their feet and special scent glands.

Scientists have also studied the DNA of these animals. They found that some animals, like the Malagasy fossa, actually belong to a different group called Eupleridae. The African palm civet is also different and belongs to its own special group called Nandiniidae. However, animals called Poiana are definitely part of the Viverridae family.

Family Viverridae

Subfamily	Genus	Species	Image of type species
Viverrinae	Viverra Linnaeus, 1758	Large Indian civet (V. zibetha) Linnaeus, 1758 Malayan civet (V. tangalunga) Gray, 1832 Malabar large-spotted civet (V. civettina) Blyth, 1862 Large-spotted civet (V. megaspila) Blyth, 1862
	Viverricula Hodgson, 1838	Small Indian civet (V. indica) (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803)
	Civettictis Pocock, 1915	African civet (C. civetta) (Schreber, 1776)
Hemigalinae Gray, 1864
	Hemigalus Jourdan, 1837	Banded palm civet (H. derbyanus) Jourdan, 1837
	Cynogale Gray, 1836	Otter civet (C. bennettii) Gray, 1836
	Diplogale Thomas, 1912	Hose's palm civet (D. hosei) (Thomas, 1892)
	Macrogalidia Schwarz, 1910	Sulawesi palm civet (M. musschenbroekii) (Schlegel, 1877)
	Chrotogale Thomas, 1912	Owston's palm civet (C. owstoni) Thomas, 1912
Paradoxurinae Gray, 1864	Paradoxurus Cuvier, 1822	Asian palm civet (P. hermaphroditus) (Pallas, 1777) Golden palm civet (P. zeylonensis) (Pallas, 1778) Brown palm civet (P. jerdoni) Blanford, 1885
	Arctictis Temminck, 1824	Binturong (A. binturong) (Raffles, 1822)
	Paguma Gray, 1831	Masked palm civet (P. larvata) (Smith, 1827)
	Arctogalidia Merriam, 1897	Small-toothed palm civet (A. trivirgata) (Gray, 1832)
Genettinae	Genetta Cuvier, 1816	Common genet (G. genetta) (Linnaeus, 1758) Cape genet (G. tigrina) (Schreber, 1778) South African small-spotted genet (G. felina) (Thunberg, 1811) Rusty-spotted genet (G. maculata) (Gray, 1828) Pardine genet (G. pardina) Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1832 Abyssinian genet (G. abyssinica) (Rüppell, 1835) King genet (G. poensis) Waterhouse, 1838 Servaline genet (G. servalina) Pucheran, 1855 Angolan genet (G. angolensis) Bocage, 1882 Giant forest genet (G. victoriae) Thomas, 1901 Hausa genet (G. thierryi) Matschie, 1902 Letaba genet (G. letabae) Thomas and Schwann, 1906 Johnston's genet (G. johnstoni) (Pocock, 1908) Aquatic genet (G. piscivora) (Allen, 1919) Crested servaline genet (G. cristata) Hayman, 1940 Schouteden's genet (G. schoutedeni) Crawford-Cabral, 1970 Bourlon's genet (G. bourloni) Gaubert, 2003
	Poiana Gray, 1864	Central African oyan (P. richardsonii) (Thomson, 1842) West African oyan (P. leightoni) (Pocock, 1907)