Almost all viverrids outside the subfamily Genettinae are commonly called civets, but some civets are not viverrids. Animals of the subfamily Genettinae are known as genets and oyans. The word viverridae comes from the Latin viverra 'ferret', but ferrets are in a different family, the Mustelidae.
Viverrids have four or five toes on each foot and half-retractile claws. They have six incisors in each jaw and molars with two tubercular grinders behind in the upper jaw, and one in the lower jaw. The tongue is rough with sharp prickles. A pouch or gland occurs beneath the anus, but there is no cecum.[3]
Viverrids are the most primitive of all the families of feliformCarnivora and clearly less specialized than the Felidae. In external characteristics, they are distinguished from the Felidae by the longer muzzle and tuft of facial vibrissae between the lower jaw bones, and by the shorter limbs and the five-toed hind foot with the first digit present. The skull differs by the position of the postpalatine foramina on the maxilla, almost always well in advance of the maxillopalatine suture, and usually about the level of the second premolar; and by the distinct external division of the auditory bulla into its two elements either by a definite groove or, when rarely this is obliterated, by the depression of the tympanic bone in front of the swollen entotympanic. The typical dental formula is: 3.1.4.23.1.4.2, but the number may be reduced, although never to the same extent as in the Felidae.[4]
Their flesh-shearing carnassial teeth are relatively undeveloped compared to those of other feliform carnivorans.[5] Most viverrid species have a penis bone (abaculum).[6]
In 1821, Gray defined this family as consisting of the genera Viverra, Genetta, Herpestes, and Suricata.[3]Reginald Innes Pocock later redefined the family as containing a great number of highly diversified genera, and being susceptible of division into several subfamilies, based mainly on the structure of the feet and of some highly specialized scent glands, derived from the skin, which are present in most of the species and are situated in the region of the external generative organs. He subordinated the subfamilies Hemigalinae, Paradoxurinae, Prionodontinae, and Viverrinae to the Viverridae.[4]
In 1833, Edward Turner Bennett described the Malagasy fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) and subordinated the Cryptoprocta to the Viverridae.[7]Amolecular and morphological analysis based on DNA/DNA hybridization experiments suggests that Cryptoprocta does not belong within Viverridae, but is a member of the Eupleridae.[8]
The African palm civet (Nandinia binotata) resembles the civets of the Viverridae, but is genetically distinct and belongs in its own monotypic family, the Nandiniidae. There is little dispute that the Poiana species are viverrids.[2]
DNA analysis based on 29 Carnivora species, comprising 13 Viverrinae species 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 Felidae is strongly supported, and it was proposed that the Asiatic linsangs be placed in the monogeneric family Prionodontidae.[9]
^ abcPocock, R. I. (1939). "Family Viverridae". The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Vol. Mammalia. – Volume 1. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 330–332.
^ abLinnaeus, C. (1758). "Viverra". Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis 1 (Tenth ed.). Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius. pp. 43–45.
^Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, E. (1803). "La Civette de l'Inde". Catalogue des Mammifères du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris: Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. p. 113.
^Schreber, J. C. D. (1778). "Die Civette Viverra civetta". Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen. Erlangen: Wolfgang Walther. pp. 418–420.
^Pallas, P. S. (1778). "Das Zwitterstinkthier". In Schreber, J. C. D. (ed.). Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen. Erlangen: Wolfgang Walther. p. 426.
^Pallas, P. S. (1778). "Der Boshond". In Schreber, J. C. D. (ed.). Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen. Erlangen: Wolfgang Walther. p. 451.
^Gray, J. E. (1831). "Paguma". Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London. Vol. 1. London: Zoological Society of London. p. 95.
^Smith, C.H. (1827). "Gulo larvatus, the Masked Glutton". In Griffith, E. (ed.). The animal kingdom : arranged in conformity with its organization. Vol. 2. Mammalia. London: G.B. Whittaker. p. 281.
^Linnaeus, C. (1758). "Viverra genetta". Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis 1 (Tenth ed.). Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius. p. 45.
^Schreber, J. C. D. (1778). "Die Bisamkaze Viverra tigrina". Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen. Vol. Dritter Theil. Erlangen: Walther. pp. 425–426.
^Gray, J. E. (1828). "Viverra maculata". Spicilegia zoologica : original figures and short systematic descriptions of new and unfigured animals. London: Treuttel, Wurtz & Co. p. 9.
^Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, I. (1832). "Descriptions d'une nouvelle espèce du genre Genette. Genetta. Cuv.". Études Zoologiques : Ouvrage comprenant l'histoire et la description d'un grand nombre d'animaux récemment découverts et des observations nouvelles sur plusieurs genres déjà connus. Paris: Lequien Fils. p. 73.
^Rüppell, E. (1835). "Viverra abyssinica. Rüppell". Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig. Frankfurt: Siegmund Schmerber.
^ abDehghani, R. & Werdelin, L. (2008). "A new small carnivoran from the Middle Miocene of Fort Ternan, Kenya". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 248 (2): 233–244. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2008/0248-0233.