Herpestes brachyurus Gray, 1837

W. Christopher Wozencraft, 1993, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 279-348 : 304-305

Herpestes brachyurus Gray, 1837 . Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1836:88 [1837].

TYPE LOCALITY: "Indian Islands", restricted by Kloss (1917) to "Borneo", however, Thomas (1921 c) believed it to be from " Malacca ". Pocock, in Chasen (1940), believed the type to be a "Malayan Race" .

DISTRIBUTION: S India, Indonesia (Borneo, Sumatra), Malaysia, Philippine Isis, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Vietnam.

SYNONYMS: ceylanicus Nevill, 1887; ceylonicus Thomas, 1924 ; dyacorum Thomas, 1921; flavidens Kelaart, 1852; fulvescens Kelaart, 1851; /«sc« Waterhouse, 1838; hosei Jentink, 1903 ; javanensis Bechthold, 1936 ; maccarthiae Gray, 1851; palawanus Allen, 1910; parvus Jentink, 1895; phillipsi Thomas, 1924; rafflesii Anderson, 1875; rajah Thomas, 1921; rubidior Pocock, 1937; siccatus Thomas, 1924; sumatrius Thomas, 1921.

COMMENTS: Bechthold (1939), followed here, included hosei and fusca , and listed characteristics suggesting that in some respects, semitorquatus was intermediate between brachyurus and urva ; this was followed by Medway (1977). Bechthold (1939) believed that /usc« (sensu stricto) is most closely related to far-eastern brachyurus forms and considered them conspecific (both forms are short tailed mongooses); however, he gave features of the skull and pelage (used elsewhere at the specific level, i.e., edwardsii vs. javanicus ) that distinguished the S India /Sri Lankan populations from those of SE Asia. Here they are provisionally treated as allopatric subspecies. Schwarz (1947) believed semitorcjuatus to be a red color morph of the dark brachyurus , although he did not address the most distinguishing feature of the collared mongoose - the collar - present in semitorquatus and absent in brachyurus . Medway (1977), followed by Payne et al. (1985), recognized hosei based on differences in the shape of the coronoid process of the mandible.