Aeluroidea

Sulawesi palm civet Macrogalidia musschenbroekii, photographed by Alain Compost.

Belongs within: Carnivora.
Contains: Felidae, Hyaenidae, Herpestidae, Viverrinae.

The Aeluroidea are the crown group of the feliform ('cat-line') carnivorans. As well as the cats themselves, they also include such animals as hyaenas, mongooses and civets. Recent studies agree that the 'Viverridae' as recognised in the past are poly- or paraphyletic, with the African palm civet Nandinia binotata the sister taxon to other living aeluroids. The Asiatic linsangs of the genus Prionodon, small, long-bodied carnivorans patterned with large spots often coalescing into bands, are now placed as the sister group to cats in the Felidae.

Characters (from Flynn et al. 1988): Auditory bulla double-chambered, divided by bilaminar septum; paroccipital process short, broadened, cupping caudal ectotympanic; posterior opening of carotid canal farther anterior to posterior lacerate foramen; postglenoid foramen absent; alisphenoid canal absent; baculum small or absent; P⁴ with large parastyle and deep, narrow carnassial notch; third upper and lower molars lost; M² reduced, simple; M₂ with talonid extremely elongate, hypoconulid larger than or equal to hypoconid.

<==Aeluroidea [Feloidea] FNT88
    |--Nandinia [Nandiniidae, Nandiniinae] FS15
    |    `--N. binotata FS15
    `--+--+--+--Felidae FS15
       |  |  `--Stenogale Schlosser 1887 MJ11, SM93
       |  |       `--S. julieni MJ11
       |  `--+--Palaeoprionodon Filhol 1880 MJ11, SM93
       |     `--Prionodon Horsfield 1822 C84 [Prionodontidae FS15]
       |          |--P. linsang FS15
       |          `--P. pardicolor FS15
       `--+--Herpestoidea MJ11
          |    |--Hyaenidae FS15
          |    `--+--Herpestidae FS15
          |       `--Eupleridae FS15
          |            |--+--Fossa [Fossinae] FS15
          |            |  |    `--F. fossana FS15
          |            |  `--Eupleres [Euplerinae] FS15
          |            |       `--E. goudotii FS15
          |            |            |--E. g. goudotii BP87
          |            |            `--E. g. major BP87
          |            `--+--Cryptoprocta [Cryptoproctidae, Cryptoproctinae] FS15
          |               |    |--C. ferox FS15
          |               |    `--C. spelea Lamberton 1939 S78
          |               `--Galidiinae RW84
          |                    |--Galidia elegans FS15
          |                    `--+--+--Salanoia concolor FS15
          |                       |  `--Mungotictis decemlineata FS15
          |                       `--Galidictis FS15
          |                            |--G. fasciata FS15
          |                            |--G. grandidieri FS15
          |                            `--G. striata S66
          `--Viverridae FS15
               |  i. s.: Hemigalea Blainville 1837 C84
               |         Stenoplesictis Filhol 1880 SM93
               |           `--S. cayluxi Fischer 1983 F91
               |--Viverrinae FS15
               `--+--Paradoxurinae WW84
                  |    |--Arctogalidia trivirgata FS15
                  |    `--+--Arctictis binturong FS15
                  |       `--+--Paguma larvata Hamilton-Smith 1827 FS15, M76
                  |          `--+--Macrogalidia musschenbroekii FS15
                  |             `--Paradoxurus FS15
                  |                  |--P. hermaphroditus (Pallas 1777) FS15, K92
                  |                  `--+--P. jerdoni FS15
                  |                     `--P. zeylonensis FS15
                  `--Hemigalinae WW84
                       |--Cynogale FS15
                       |    |--C. bennettii FS15
                       |    `--C. lowei WW84
                       `--+--Chrotogale owstonii FS15
                          `--+--Diplogale hosei FS15
                             `--Hemigalus Jourdan 1837 FS15, C84
                                  |--H. derbyanus FS15
                                  |--H. hardwickei B46
                                  `--H. hosei WW84

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BP87] Burton, J. A., & B. Pearson. 1987. Collins Guide to the Rare Mammals of the World. Collins: London.

[B46] Butler, P. M. 1946. The evolution of carnassial dentitions in the Mammalia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 116: 198–220.

[C84] Compagno, L. J. V. 1984. FAO Species Catalogue vol. 4. Sharks of the World: An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2—Carcharhiniformes. United Nations Development Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Rome.

[FS15] Faurby, S., & J.-C. Svenning. 2015. A species-level phylogeny of all extant and late Quaternary extinct mammals using a novel heuristic-hierarchical Bayesian approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 14–26.

[FNT88] Flynn, J. J., N. A. Neff & R. H. Tedford. 1988. Phylogeny of the Carnivora. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods vol. 2. Mammals pp. 73–116. Clarendon Press: Oxford.

[F91] Freess, W. B. 1991. Beiträge zur Kenntnis von Fauna und Flora des marinen Mitteloligozäns bei Leipzig. Altenburger Naturwissenschaftliche Forschungen 6: 3–74.

[K92] Klompen, J. S. H. 1992. Phylogenetic relationships in the mite family Sarcoptidae (Acari: Astigmata). Miscellaneous Publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan 180: i–vi, 1–154.

[M76] Masui, M. 1976. Nihon no Doobutsu. Kogakukan: Tokyo.

[MJ11] Meredith, R. W., J. E. Janečka, J. Gatesy, O. A. Ryder, C. A. Fisher, E. C. Teeling, A. Goodbla, E. Eizirik, T. L. L. Simão, T. Stadler, D. L. Rabosky, R. L. Honeycutt, J. J. Flynn, C. M. Ingram, C. Steiner, T. L. Williams, T. J. Robinson, A. Burk-Herrick, M. Westerman, N. A. Ayoub, M. S. Springer & W. J. Murphy. 2011. Impacts of the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution and KPg extinction on mammal diversification. Science 334: 521–524.

[RW84] Rood, J., & W. C. Wozencraft. 1984. Mongooses. In: Macdonald, D. (ed.) All the World’s Animals: Carnivores pp. 138–145. Torstar Books Inc.: New York.

[S78] Savage, R. J. G. 1978. Carnivora. In: Maglio, V. J., & H. B. S. Cooke (eds) Evolution of African Mammals pp. 249–267. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[S66] Schlegel, H. 1866. Communication from, on mammals and birds collected in Madagascar. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 419–426.

[SM93] Stucky, R. K., & M. C. McKenna. 1993. Mammalia. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 739–771. Chapman & Hall: London.

[WW84] Wemmer, C., & W. C. Wozencraft. 1984. Civets and genets. In: Macdonald, D. (ed.) All the World’s Animals: Carnivores pp. 128–137. Torstar Books Inc.: New York.

Last updated: 19 March 2022.