Meller's mongoose (''Rhynchogale melleri'') is a small brown
mongoose
A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family has two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to southern Europe, A ...
native to savannas and woodlands of southeastern Africa. It is the only member of the genus ''Rhynchogale''.
The Meller's mongoose lives alone and is active at night, feeding on termites or other small insects and animals. While somewhat rare, it is adaptable and faces no serious threats. It is a member of the mongoose family (
Herpestidae), a group of fox-like animals native to Asia, southern Europe, and Africa.
Taxonomy
The scientific name ''Rhinogale melleri'' was proposed by
John Edward Gray
John Edward Gray (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for a z ...
in 1865 for a grey-brown mongoose
zoological specimen collected in East Africa.
It was placed in the genus ''Rhynchogale'' by
Oldfield Thomas
Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist.
Career
Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...
in 1894.
Description
Meller's mongoose is a medium to large-size mongoose with a light to dark brown body and a long tail. At close quarters the upper parts of Meller's mongoose are coarsely grizzled. The lower parts of the limbs are darker than the upper parts of the body. The under parts are generally lighter in colour than the upper parts. It measures about in length overall and weighs . The tail is slightly less than half the overall length.
The tail is variable in colour and may be black, brown or white, although dark brown to black is the most usual. Meller's mongoose may be confused with the white-tailed mongoose; however, it is smaller and blacker overall than this species.
Distribution and habitat
Meller's mongoose ranges from central
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
south through
Malawi
Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...
,
Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
,
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
and
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
, to
Eswatini
Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...
and northeastern
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
.
It has been recorded up to an elevation of in
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
.
It lives in
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
s and is associated mainly with open woodland and grassland and marshy areas with
termitaria.
[ It lives in miombo ('' Brachystegia'') woodlands in Zambia,] Zimbabwe and Malawi and montane
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
forests in Tanzania. It appears to require dense cover throughout the year and is rarely seen in areas where fires are extensive and frequent.[
]
Behaviour and ecology
Meller's mongoose is nocturnal
Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatur ...
, solitary
Solitary is the state of being alone or in solitude. The term may refer to:
* ''Solitary'' (album), 2008 album by Don Dokken
* ''Solitary'' (2020 film), a British sci-fi thriller film
* ''Solitary'' (upcoming film), an American drama film
* "S ...
and terrestrial. They do not appear until well after sunset and continue to be active until about midnight.
Diet
Meller's mongoose feeds mainly on termite
Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...
s, particularly harvester termites ('' Hodotermes'') and the larger '' Macrotermes''. They also eat grasshopper
Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago.
Grassh ...
s, small reptile
Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...
s, centipede
Centipedes (from Neo-Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', "lip", and Neo-Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, ...
s, beetle
Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
s and frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...
s.
Reproduction
They appear to breed at the beginning of the wet season
The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...
(November to December). 2-3 young are born in burrow
file:Chipmunk-burrow (exits).jpg, An eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow
A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of Animal lo ...
s or rock crevices. Females have two pairs of abdominal mammae.
Threats
There are no major known threats to the species. Its favoured habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
is extensive, and in some parts overlaps with very low human populations. However, human expansion and domestic dogs could represent a significant threat in localised areas. However, in parts of northern South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
the species has been recorded in areas with high human and domestic dog disturbances.[
]
Status and abundance
Listed as Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
on the IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
, it is apparently uncommon to rare, but it may be easily overlooked or confused with other mongoose species.[
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1757286
Meller's mongoose
Mammals of Malawi
Mammals of Mozambique
Mammals of South Africa
Mammals of Eswatini
Mammals of Tanzania
Mammals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mammals of Zambia
Mammals of Zimbabwe
Fauna of Southern Africa
Meller's mongoose
Meller's mongoose