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A review was conducted of members of the endemic Malagasy carnivoran genus Eupleres (family Eupleridae) based on published and unpublished records and museum specimens. Classically, one species has been recognized in this poorly known genus - E. goudotii, divided into two geographical forms with non-overlapping distributions: E. g. goudotii distrib...
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... the distance across the rostrum (e.g., distance outer C-C) and palate (distance outer M1-M1) are greater in major compared with goudotii. The lower molar measurements in goudotii show little overlap in length and width to those measurements of major (e.g., sec- ond to last lower width, second to last lower width, length of fourth to last tooth in lower jaw) (Table 3). Hence, animals assigned to nominate goudotii and major have conspicuously different dentitions, which in major are mainly more robust. ...
Citations
... Eupleres major Lavauden, 1929 Western falanouc Madagascar Y Only known from a few museum specimens and recent camera-trapping records (Evans et al., 2013;Merson et al., 2018). Goodman & Helgen (2010) suggested to elevate E. goudotii major to species level, but molecular studies of Veron & Goodman (2018) have shown that the studied samples do not differ from that of E. goudotii (Eastern falanouc). ...
This Appendix provides a detailed (but non-exhaustive) list of the main small carnivoran taxa (n = 72) that have been – to date – the subject of discussions as to whether they should be attributed species or subspecies level.
... The Falanouc E. goudotii is a poorly studied Malagasy carnivore, with a muchreduced dentition, feeding on soft-bodied invertebrates. This species included two subspecies -Eupleres goudotii goudotii, found in eastern Madagascar, and Eupleres goudotii major, localized in the north west of the islandthat were raised to species level by Goodman & Helgen (2010) based on their morphology and distribution. Using genetic data, mainly from museum specimens, Veron & Goodman (2018) did not Plate 1. Golden palm civet Paradoxurus zeylonensis at the National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka, Colombo. ...
Small mammalian carnivores represent over half of the species of the order Carnivora. Over the past few decades, molecular studies have improved the systematics of small carnivore families, resulting in the recognition of four additional families. Several new species of small carnivores have also been proposed recently, but some of these have not been validated by genetic data. Studies of intraspecific genetic polymorphism and structure have helped in the process of defining conservation units, which is crucial for the management of zoo populations. Small mammalian carnivores represent over half of the species of the order Carnivora. Over the past few decades, molecular studies have improved the systematics of small carnivore families, resulting in the recognition of four additional families. Several new species of small carnivores have also been proposed recently but some of these have not been validated by genetic data. Studies of intraspecific genetic polymorphism and structure have helped in the process of defining conservation units, which is crucial for the management of zoo populations. (Photo: Golden palm civet Paradoxurus zeylonensis, National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka. Géraldine Veron, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris)
... La différence entre ces deux classifications est la conséquence de la description de deux espèces nouvelles pour la science, Galidictis grandidieri (Wozencraft, 1986) et Salanoia durrelli (Durbin et al., 2010), ainsi que l'élévation au rang d'espèce d'Eupleres goudotii major et d'E. g. goudotii (Goodman & Helgen, 2010). Cependant, des études moléculaires récentes suggèrent à nouveau des modifications majeures de la systématique infragénérique . ...
... Albignac (1973) in his monograph published in the Faune de Madagascar series recognized seven species for the island. In a subsequent review of the family Eupleridae, Goodman (2012) recognized 10 species, and the difference between these tabulations included the description of two species new to science, Galidictis grandidieri (Wozencraft, 1986) and Salanoia durrelli (Durbin et al., 2010), and the recognition of Eupleres goudotii major as a distinct species from E. g. goudotii (Goodman & Helgen, 2010). However, recent molecular studies suggest some major changes in the systematics of the Eupleridae below the level of genus . ...
... Auparavant, ce genre se composait d'une seule espèce divisée en deux sous-espèces (Albignac, 1973) : Eupleres g. goudotii et E. g. major. L'étude morphologique de spécimens de musée a souligné des différences crâniennes et dentaires notables entre ces formes, ce qui a conduit à suggérer d'en faire deux espèces séparées (Goodman & Helgen, 2010). Cependant, une étude ...
... A paucity of information currently exists on the two proposed sub-species of the Genus Eupleres: Eupleres goudotii and Eupleres major (Albignac 1972). Each sub-species is typically confined to the geographically distinct landscapes of the eastern rainforests and western deciduous forests respectively (Hawkins 2008), despite proposed distributional overlap in the northerly rainforest of Montagne d'Ambre (Goodman & Helgen 2010). Much of our knowledge of the Falanouc has been derived from museum specimens or personal communications, anecdotal reports from rural villagers, and several published studies (Goodman & Helgen 2010). ...
... Each sub-species is typically confined to the geographically distinct landscapes of the eastern rainforests and western deciduous forests respectively (Hawkins 2008), despite proposed distributional overlap in the northerly rainforest of Montagne d'Ambre (Goodman & Helgen 2010). Much of our knowledge of the Falanouc has been derived from museum specimens or personal communications, anecdotal reports from rural villagers, and several published studies (Goodman & Helgen 2010). Across its geographic range, sightings and trappings of the Falanouc have been rare, which may be due to its specialized diet of earthworms and nocturnal habits (Hawkins 2008). ...
... In June 2011, the first known photograph of a Western Falanouc was taken by an Earthwatch volunteer in ANP ( Figure 1). Despite the Falanouc's proposed highly nocturnal-crepuscular activity pattern (Gerber et al. 2012b, Goodman & Helgen 2010 this individual was photographed during the day; such diurnal sightings are particularly rare. ...
Long-term research on Fosa Cryptoprocta ferox has been conducted in Ankarafantsika National Park since 1999, with rare sightings of the forest’s second elusive carnivore, the Western Falanouc Eupleres major. During annual carnivore live-trapping from 1999- Present, a single Falanouc was captured on the 30th of March 2002. Since this capture, two photographs have been taken of the Falanouc. In June 2011, a project volunteer photographed a Falanouc during the day whilst conducting trap-checks. Recently, a second photograph was recorded during the largest systematic camera-trapping study of Madagascar’s western carnivores. From April – July 2014 eighty paired camera-traps operated on average for 79 days, recording a sole image of the Western Falanouc at 01h18 on the 19 April 2014. Herein we discuss the morphometrics and photographic records of the Western Falanouc from Ankarafantsika National Park.
... Based on morphology and distribution, two subspecies were recognized -Eupleres goudotii goudotii Doyère 1835 and Eupleres goudotii major Lavauden, 1929 -that were later raised to species level by Goodman and Helgen (2010). However, no molecular data were available to confirm the separation of this genus into two species, which were mainly distinguished by Goodman and Helgen (2010) by the larger size and robustness of E. major, and also on differences in coloration and footpad morphology. ...
... Based on morphology and distribution, two subspecies were recognized -Eupleres goudotii goudotii Doyère 1835 and Eupleres goudotii major Lavauden, 1929 -that were later raised to species level by Goodman and Helgen (2010). However, no molecular data were available to confirm the separation of this genus into two species, which were mainly distinguished by Goodman and Helgen (2010) by the larger size and robustness of E. major, and also on differences in coloration and footpad morphology. The distributional ranges of both forms of Eupleres are shown in Figure 1, with E. major occurring in the northwest and E. goudotii across the east side of the island. ...
... major being larger) and coat color (grayish for E. major rather than brown in Eupleres goudotii). Goodman and Helgen (2010) confirmed the size difference, although when employing a greater number of museum specimens from their dataset, some overlap occurs between the two forms: greatest length of skull: E. goudotii: 85.00-92.55 mm (n = 19); E. major: 92.06-96.95 ...
Members of the genus Eupleres are poorly known insectivorous carnivorans belonging to the family Eupleridae
(order Carnivora), which are endemic to Madagascar. Recently, using morphological characters, the two previously recognized subspecies of Eupleres goudotii were raised to the species level, with E. goudotii occurring in the humid forests of the island, largely in the east, and Eupleres major in northwestern dry deciduous forests. Using some of the few museum specimens and fresh tissue samples available
for this genus, we assessed differences between these two forms based on the cytochrome b gene. The results show that individuals identified as E. major, based on a combination of morphological characters and collection locality, do not form a monophyletic group, and the level of polymorphism within the genus is not in agreement with the recognition of two species. Additional molecular data, in particular from nuclear markers, are needed to verify these results.
... Other studies have shown E. goudotii to be predominantly nocturnal (Gerber et al. 2012a), and our results suggest that this trend holds true for the E. major population of Mariarano forest. Published records of E. major are scarce, but the species range is thought to extend from Antsiranana at the northern tip of Madagascar to close to Soalala on the west coast, at elevations ranging from 10 to 1,500 m (Goodman & Helgen 2010). Eupleres major has previously been recorded in the Mariarano Forest area (Evans et al. 2013), as well as approximately 70 km south-east of Mariarano at Marovoay and near Port Bergé, approximately 100 km to the east (Goodman & Helgen 2010). ...
... Published records of E. major are scarce, but the species range is thought to extend from Antsiranana at the northern tip of Madagascar to close to Soalala on the west coast, at elevations ranging from 10 to 1,500 m (Goodman & Helgen 2010). Eupleres major has previously been recorded in the Mariarano Forest area (Evans et al. 2013), as well as approximately 70 km south-east of Mariarano at Marovoay and near Port Bergé, approximately 100 km to the east (Goodman & Helgen 2010). ...
... This would constitute also the full species name if the genus is consid-English names for Madagascar Carnivora ered monospecific. If two species in the genus are accepted (as by Goodman & Helgen 2010), the segregate needs an English name and the name for the residual requires a modifier. 'Major's Falanouc' is unsuitable for E. major: although the original description of the taxon (Lavauden 1929) lacked an explicit etymology of 'major', this word can mean 'larger' in Latin: because the name is introduced directly after the author's statement that the animal is much bigger than is E. goudotii, it was plausibly used by him in this sense. ...
Eupleridae, itself endemic to Madagascar. Until recently, these animals were generally taken to be island representatives of mon- gooses (Herpestidae) and civets (Viverridae), but genetic investigation proves that they are all descended from one colonisation by a species neither a civet nor a mongoose. Many of the widely used English names for most of the species, such as ‘Malagasy Civet’ for Fossa fossana and ‘Malagasy Narrow-striped Mongoose’ for Mungotictis decemlineata, thus suggest misleading evolu- tionary relationships. Furthermore, most of the species have multiple English names in use in the main sources used by those who prefer English names to scientific names: over three dozen names for the 11 species here recognised. This inconsistency risks increasing confusion when referring to species. English names that do not suggest incorrect relationships are already available (derived from Malagasy names for these animals) and to some extent in use. Here we recommend one name for each species as unambiguous, short, and not taxonomically misleading. Several other members of the Order Carnivora elsewhere in the world where genetic investigations have dramatically revised previously accepted relationships remain known by taxonomi- cally misleading English names.
... M. Helgen in litt. 2013) and is more consistent with this newly recognised species's known geographic range, than with that of residual Eastern Falanouc E. goudotii (Goodman & Helgen 2010). These records corroborate previous studies (Albignac 1974, Dollar 1999 showing a nocturnal to crepuscular activity for the genus. ...
... There are particularly few records from the west (Goodman & Helgen 2010). The closest site to Mariarano forest where Eupleres has been recorded is Ankarafantsika National Park (Goodman & Helgen 2010). ...
... There are particularly few records from the west (Goodman & Helgen 2010). The closest site to Mariarano forest where Eupleres has been recorded is Ankarafantsika National Park (Goodman & Helgen 2010). Mariarano forest represents an extension of known range for Eupleres of approximately 80 km northwest. ...
Mariarano forest. Mariarano forest comprises 65 km² of west-ern dry deciduous forest, wooded grass and bush land, a wetland complex and agricultural land (Moat & Smith 2007, Washington et al. 2009) and has been noted for its rich lemur populations (Andriantompohavana et al. 2006, Olivieri et al. 2006). Mariar-ano forest is one of the few remaining patches of unprotected western deciduous forest larger than 800 ha (Smith 1997) and is under intense anthropogenic pressure—Ackermann (2003) quantified annual deforestation rates of 3% in the forest. Since 2009, a collaborative project has been assessing the forest's biodiversity. The partnership comprises Operation
... Curiously, much of the recent improvement in species-level taxonomic knowledge on carnivores derives from revisions based on previously available museum specimens, instead of resulting from actual field-based discoveries of new taxa (Patterson, 2000). This is illustrated by the recent recognition of new carnivoran species using morphological and/or molecular data sets (Helgen, Lim & Helgen, 2008;Helgen et al., 2009;del Cerro et al., 2010;Goodman & Helgen, 2010) derived at least partially from museum material. In addition to the description of new species, other aspects of basic carnivoran taxonomy may be clarified with thorough revisions of museum specimens, especially in the case of poorly known genera from understudied regions of the world. ...
Although critical for enabling in-depth evolutionary, ecological, or conservation-orientated studies, taxonomic knowledge is still scarce for many groups of organisms, including mammals of the order Carnivora. For some of these taxa, even basic aspects such as species limits and geographical distribution are still uncertain. This is the case for the Neotropical mustelid genus Galictis, considered one of the least studied carnivoran genera in the Americas. To address this issue, we performed a comprehensive assessment of morphological and molecular characters to test the number of species within Galictis, and to characterize their distinctiveness and evolutionary history. In addition, we reviewed and consolidated the available information on the taxonomy of this genus, so as to provide a historical framework upon which we could interpret our data. Our analyses demonstrated that two Galictis species can be clearly delimited and diagnosed using metric and nonmetric morphological characters as well as DNA sequences from mitochondrial and nuclear gene segments. On the basis of this clarified species-level delimitation, we reassessed the geographical range of each Galictis taxon, identifying possible areas of sympatry between them. These results provide a solid taxonomic framework for Galictis, enabling the development of additional studies focusing on this poorly known taxon.
© 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 167, 449–472.
... Given that carnivores often have the largest area requirements of all fauna, can affect ecosystem dynamics (Roemer et al., 2009), and serve as useful focal species for planning (Carroll et al., 2001), a better understanding of the ecology of Malagasy carnivores is required. Of the 10 extant carnivore species in the endemic family Eupleridae (Yoder et al., 2003; Durbin et al., 2010; Goodman & Helgen, 2010 ), five are known to occupy the centraleastern rainforests (broad-striped mongoose Galidictis fasciata, fossa Cryptoprocta ferox, Malagasy civet Fossa fossana, ring-tailed mongoose Galidia elegans elegans and small-toothed civet Eupleres goudotii;). Of these five carnivores, all but G. e. elegans are thought to be declining (IUCN, 2011). ...
Forest carnivores are threatened globally by logging and forest fragmentation yet we know relatively little about how such change affects predator populations. This is especially true in Madagascar, where carnivores have not been extensively studied. To understand better the effectsofloggingandfragmentationonMalagasycarnivores we evaluated species composition, density of fossa Cryptoprocta ferox and Malagasy civet Fossa fossana, and carnivore occupancy in central-eastern Madagascar. We photographically-sampled carnivores in two contiguous (primary and selectively-logged) and two fragmented rain- forests (fragments ,2.5 and .15 km from intact forest). Species composition varied, with more native carnivores in the contiguous than fragmented rainforests. F. fossana was absent from fragmented rainforests and at a lower density in selectively-logged than in primary rainforest (mean 1.38 ±SE 0.22 and 3.19 ±SE 0.55 individuals km−2, respect- ively). C. ferox was detected in fragments ,2.5 km from forest and had similar densities in primary and selectively- logged forests(0.12± SE adults km−2, respectively) but was absent in fragments >15 km from forest. We identified only two protected areas in Madagascar that may maintain >300 adult C. ferox. Occupancy of broad-striped mongoose Galidictis fasciata waspositively related to fragment size where as occupancyof ring-tailed mongoose Galidia elegans elegans was negatively associated with increasing exotic wildcat (Felis spp.)activity at a camera site. Degraded rainforest fragments are difficult environments for Malagasy carnivores to occupy; there is a need to prioritize the reconnection and maintenance of contiguous forest tracts
