Herpestes Illiger, 1811

W. Christopher Wozencraft, 1993, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 279-348 : 304

Herpestes Illiger, 1811 . Prodr. Syst. Mamm. Avium., p. 135.

TYPE SPECIES: Viverra ichneumon Linnaeus, 1758 , by absolute tautonomy, through the replaced name Ichneumon Lacépède, 1799 ( Melville and Smith, 1987).

COMMENTS: Revised by Pocock (1919, 1937, 1941a) and Bechthold (1939). Coetzee (1977b), and Hayman (in Sanderson, 1940) included Xenogale (see discussion under naso ). Allen (1924), considered only ichneumon in this genus and separated sanguineus and pulverulentus into Galerella ; for support, he contrasted the large ichneumon with the smaller sanguineus-pulverulentus complex and reported proportional differences in measurements of skeleton and skull. His rationale has been repeated, in some cases verbatum, by Rosevear (1974), Ansell (1978), Smithers (1983), Meester et al. (1986), and Watson and Dippenaar (1987). Taylor et al. (1991) presented an allozyme analysis and argued for generic recognition, however, they did not include Asiatic Herpestes , and their consensus tree made the placement of the sanguineus / pulverulentus clade equivocal. Fredga's (1972) comparative chromosome analysis looked at variation including Asiatic and African Herpestes, and based on this, recognition of Galerella would make Herpestes paraphyletic. Comparison of measurements from Allen (1924), Rosevear (1974), and Smithers (1983) for African forms, and Bechthold (1939) and Pocock (1941a) for Asiatic forms reveals that the large morphological gaps originally identified by Allen (1924), dissolve when Asiatic species are included. Ellerman et al. (1953) and Wozencraft (1989b) suggested that differences between these taxa and other Herpestes are less than those found within Herpestes . Morphological criteria similar to that used by Allen (1924) have mostly been used at the specific level in other carnivores. Although the case is not strong, many recent authors have recognized Galerella and this is provisionally followed here (see comments under Galerella).