| Atilax Temporal range: Early Pleistocene - Recent
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| Marsh mongoose (Atilax paludinosus) | |
Scientific classification 
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| 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]
- ^ Brain, C.K. (1983). The Hunters Or the Hunted? An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy. University of Chicago Press. p. 166.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.