Atilax

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]

  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. Bibcode:1997AfJEc..35..237R. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.1997.086-89086.x.