Eupleridae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of carnivorans endemic to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

and comprising 10 known living

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

in seven

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

, commonly known as euplerids, Malagasy mongooses or Malagasy carnivorans. The best known species is the fossa (''Cryptoprocta ferox''), in the subfamily

Euplerinae Euplerinae, more commonly known as malagasy civets, is a subfamily of carnivorans that includes four species restricted to Madagascar. Together with the subfamily Galidiinae, which also only occurs on Madagascar, it forms the family Eupleridae. ...

. All species of Euplerinae were formerly classified as viverrids, while all species in the subfamily

Galidiinae Galidiinae is a subfamily of carnivorans that is restricted to Madagascar and includes six species classified into four genera. Together with the three other species of indigenous Malagasy carnivorans, including the fossa, they are currently cla ...

were classified as herpestids. Recent molecular studies indicate that the 10 living species of Madagascar carnivorans evolved from one ancestor that is thought to have rafted over from mainland Africa 18–24 million years ago. This makes Malagasy carnivorans a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

. They are closely allied with the true herpestid

mongooses A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to ...

, their closest living relatives. The fossa and the

Malagasy civet The Malagasy or striped civet (''Fossa fossana''), also known as the fanaloka (Malagasy, ) or jabady, is an euplerid endemic to Madagascar. It is the only species in genus ''Fossa''. The Malagasy civet is a small mammal, about long excludi ...

(''Fossa fossana'') are each evolutionarily quite distinct from each other and from the rest of the clade. All Eupleridae are considered threatened species due to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, as well as predation and competition from

non-native species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

Taxonomy and phylogeny

Historically, the relationships of the Madagascar carnivorans have been contentious, but molecular evidence suggests that they form a single clade, now recognized as the family Eupleridae. The

hyena Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the cl ...

family, Hyaenidae, is a sister taxon of the euplerid and herpestid clade, and when grouped together with the viverrids and felids, as well as some smaller groups, forms the feliform (cat-like carnivores) clade. The evolutionary divergence between the herpestids and the euplerids dates back to the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but t ...

. At that time, feliforms shared many similarities, particularly between the cats and the viverrids. '' Palaeoprionodon'' (within the clade Aeluroidea), found in Europe and Asia from the late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...

or early Oligocene, looked similar to the modern fossa, while '' Proailurus'', an extinct form of cat, exhibited many viverrid-like characteristics. Despite these similarities in the

fossil record A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

, the modern Malagasy carnivores are distinctly different, with the

and

subfamilies bearing similarities with civets and mongooses, respectively. Species in Euplerinae (including the fossa, falanouc, and Malagasy civet) have auditory regions similar to those of viverrids, while those in Galidiinae have auditory regions similar to those of herpestids. Based on this trait, Robert M. Hunt Jr. proposed in 1996 that Madagascar was colonized twice, once by viverrids and once by herpestids. However, the genetic studies by Yoder and colleagues in 2003 suggested that a single colonization event occurred by a primitive herpestid ancestor, which was quickly followed by

adaptive radiation In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic in ...

. The common ancestor arrived from Africa, probably by rafting, during the late Oligocene or early Miocene (24–18 Mya), though Philippe Gaubert and Veron estimated a divergence date of 19.4 Mya (16.5–22.7 Mya).

Classification

Phylogenetic tree

The phylogenetic relationships of Malagasy carnivorans (Eupleridae) are shown in the following cladogram:

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar , from=Q641742 Mammal families Extant Chattian first appearances Taxa named by Jean-Charles Chenu

Taxonomy and phylogeny

Classification

Phylogenetic tree

See also

References

External links