The taxonomy of the endemic golden palm civet of Sri Lanka
Author
Groves, Colin P.
Author
Rajapaksha, Channa
Author
Manemandra-Arachchi, Kelum
text
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
2009
2009-01-31
155
1
238
251
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-lookup/doi/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00451.x
journal article
10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00451.x
0024-4082
5444863
PARADOXURUS MONTANUS
KELAART, 1852
SRI LANKAN BROWN PALM CIVET
Type
:
BM 52.5
.9.17, subadult male skin and skull,
Newara Eliya
, cloud-forest zone of
Central Highlands
,
Sri Lanka
.
Diagnosis:
Dark, slightly greyish-toned wood-brown, with a yellowish-white tail tip. Underside a paler version of upper side. Skull smaller, narrow with a narrow, pointed muzzle, a lower, flatter braincase, and occipital crest narrows backwards. Coronoid process not strongly curved backwards.
Distribution:
Dry zone of
Sri Lanka
, on present evidence extending to high altitudes in the Knuckles Range, and cloud forest in the Central Highlands. Skulls from the wet zone are somewhat narrower, but with a wider interpterygoid fossa, and may be different; further material – especially of adult specimens – from the cloud forest may show that these populations are also different from those from the dry zone, in which case the cloud-forest animals would retain the name
montanus
, and lower-altitude taxa would require one or more new names.
CR has live-trapped 12 individuals of this species, as follows.
Knuckles Range: Memure, (1/1), Walpolamulla (1/0), Elukumbura (1/1).
Monaragala: Thabanna (4/1).
Bibila: Lunugala (0/1).
Ratnapura: Sirapagama (0/1).