Urva (genus)

Urva
Indian grey mongoose
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Herpestidae
Subfamily: Herpestinae
Genus: Urva
Hodgson, 1837
Type species
Gulo urva
Hodgson, 1836
Species

See table and range map

Native distribution of Urva species
  •   U. javanica
  •   U. edwardsii
  •   U. edwardsii in sympatry with U. javanica
  •   U. smithii in sympatry with U. edwardsii, and locally with U. javanica
  •   U. vitticolla and U. fusca in sympatry with U. smithii and U. edwardsii
  •   U. urva
  •   U. urva in sympatry with U. javanica
  •   U. brachyura
  •   U. semitorquata in sympatry with U. brachyura

Urva is a genus comprising the Asian mongooses within the mongoose family Herpestidae. Species in the genus were formerly classified in the genus Herpestes, which is now thought to comprise exclusively African mongooses; phylogenetic evidence indicates that the Asian mongooses form a monophyletic group and had an Asian common ancestor. Urva forms a clade with Xenogale and Atilax, while Herpestes forms a clade with all other African mongoose species.[1][2]

An Urva fossil specimen, an upper molar tooth, was excavated in the Ayeyarwady River valley in central Myanmar and is estimated to date to the late Pliocene.[3]

The scientific name Urva was coined by Brian Houghton Hodgson as the specific name of crab-eating mongoose in 1836,[4] and as the generic name in the following year.[5] Urva species have a wide distribution spanning from the Arabian Peninsula to the Indonesian island of Java.[6] The small Indian mongoose (U. auropunctata) has been introduced to several islands in the late 19th century, where it has become an invasive species.[7][8]

  1. ^ Patou, M.; Mclenachan, P.A.; Morley, C.G.; Couloux, A.; Jennings, A.P.; Veron, G. (2009). "Molecular phylogeny of the Herpestidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) with a special emphasis on the Asian Herpestes". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 53 (1): 69–80. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.05.038. PMID 19520178.
  2. ^ Zhou, Y.; Wang, S.-R.; Ma, J.-Z. (2017). "Comprehensive species set revealing the phylogeny and biogeography of Feliformia (Mammalia, Carnivora) based on mitochondrial DNA". PLOS ONE. 12 (3): e0174902. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174902. PMC 5373635. PMID 28358848.
  3. ^ Egi, N.; Nishioka, Y.; Tsubamoto, T.; Ogino, S. & Takai, M. (2011). "A mongoose remain (Mammalia: Carnivora) from the Upper Irrawaddy sediments, Myanmar and its significance in evolutionary history of Asian herpestids". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 42 (6): 1204–1209. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2011.07.003.
  4. ^ Hodgson, B. H. (1836). "Synoptical description of sundry new animals, enumerated in the Catalogue of Nepalese Mammals". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 5 (52): 231–238.
  5. ^ Hodgson, B. H. (1837). "On a new genus of the Plantigrades". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 6 (67): 560–565.
  6. ^ Veron, G. & Jennings, A.P. (2017). "Javan mongoose or small Indian mongoose – who is where?". Mammalian Biology. 87 (1): 62–70. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2017.05.006.
  7. ^ Lowe, S.; Browne, M.; Boudjelas, S. & De Poorter, M. (2000). "Small Indian Mongoose (Herpestes javanicus (auropunctatus))" (PDF). 100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species. A selection from the Global Invasive Species Database. New Zealand: The Invasive Species Specialist Group, SSC IUCN, Hollands Printing Ltd. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-22. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  8. ^ Louppe, V.; Lalis, A.; Abdelkrim, J.; Baron, J.; Bed’Hom, B.; Becker, A. A. M. J.; Catzeflis, F.; Lorvelec, O.; Zieger, U.; Veron, G. (2021). "Dispersal history of a globally introduced carnivore, the small Indian mongoose Urva auropunctata, with an emphasis on the Caribbean region". Biological Invasions. 23 (8): 2573–2590. doi:10.1007/s10530-021-02523-6.