Golden Palm Civet

About the Golden Palm Civet

The golden palm civet (Paradoxurus zeylonensis) is a viverrid endemic to Sri Lanka. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2016.The extent and quality of its habitat in Sri Lanka's hill regions are declining.

The golden palm civet was described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1778. Viverra zeylonensis was the scientific name proposed by Peter Simon Pallas in 1778 for a palm civet specimen from Sri Lanka. Between the 19th and early 21st centuries, several zoological specimens were described, including:

Paradoxurus aureus by Frédéric Cuvier in 1822 Paradoxurus montanus by Edward Frederick Kelaart in 1852 who described a fulvous brown palm civet from the mountains of Sri Lanka, which he considered a variety of the golden palm civet.

Paradoxurus stenocephalus by Colin Groves and colleagues in 2009 who described a golden brown specimen from Sri Lanka's dry zone. They proposed to regard P. montanus, P. aureus and P. stenocephalus as distinct species based on coat colour and skull measurements of specimens.

Genetic analysis indicates that specimens of P. montanus, P. aureus and P. stenocephalus share the same haplotype. Because of their low genetic difference, they... Wikipedia →