Small-toothed Palm Civet

About the Small-toothed Palm Civet

The small-toothed palm civet (Arctogalidia trivirgata), also known as the three-striped palm civet, is a viverrid native to dense forests from Northeast India to mainland Southeast Asia and the islands of Borneo, Sumatra and Java.

A monotypic genus, Arctogalidia means 'bear-weasel' (from ancient Greek arkto- 'bear' + galidia 'little weasel'). The specific epithet trivirgata means 'three-striped' in Latin. The scientific name Paradoxurus trivirgatus was proposed by John Edward Gray in 1832 in his first scientific description of a small-toothed palm civet that was based on a zoological specimen from the Maluku Islands in the collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie.

The small-toothed palm civet is a member of the subfamily Paradoxurinae, described by Gray in 1864. There exists a debate among taxonomists as to whether individuals from Borneo and the Peninsular Malaysia are different species. Molecular modelling has suggested that the small-toothed palm civets in Borneo form a different clade belonging to Arctogalidia stigmatica; they may have genetically diverged during the Pliocene when rising sea levels in the South China Sea restricted connections between... Wikipedia →