Atilax
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene - Recent
Marsh mongoose (Atilax paludinosus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Herpestidae
Subfamily: Herpestinae
Genus: Atilax
F. Cuvier, 1826
Species

Atilax is a genus of mongoose containing a single living species, the marsh mongoose (Atilax paludinosus). A single fossil species probably ancestral to the marsh mongoose is also known from South Africa.[1]

The generic name Atilax was introduced in 1826 by Frédéric Cuvier.[2]

They are solitary, nocturnal, and semi-aquatic mammals that inhabits wetlands and feeds on fish, crustaceans, frogs, and small mammals.[3]

References

  1. Brain, C.K. (1983). The Hunters Or the Hunted? An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy. University of Chicago Press. p. 166.
  2. Cuvier, F. G. (1826). "Vansire". In E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire; F. G. Cuvier (eds.). Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères : avec des figures originales, coloriées, dessinées d'aprèsdes animaux vivans. Tome 5. Paris: A. Belin. p. LIV.
  3. Ray, Justina (September 1997). "Comparative ecology of two African forest mongooses, Herpestes naso and Atilax paludinosus". African Journal of Ecology. 35 (3): 237–253. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.1997.086-89086.x.


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