A New Species of Striped Mongoose from Madagascar

Abstract

A new species of Galidictis (Carnivora, Herpestidae) from Madagascar is de- scribed. It is larger than G. fasciata and can be distinguished from it in possessing a longer, wider and more robust skull, larger carnassials and canines, and a nearly parallel longitudinal striping pattern with wide interspaces. It is compared to other Malagasy and striped mongooses with qualitative and quantitative characteristics which can be used to separate and identify species. The distribution of collection localities along the eastern slopes of the Great Eastern Escarpment of G. fasciata suggests an ecological and geographical separation from the paratype locality in the southwest spiny desert. The family Herpestidae is represented on Madagascar by four endemic genera, all belonging to the subfamily Galidiinae. This subfamily, an Oligocene offshoot from other herpestine and mungotine mongooses, can be distinguished by basicranial characters. In the Galidiinae, the entotympanic chamber is flat or slightly inflated and the ectotympanic is drawn out laterally into a long external meatal tube. In other mongooses, the entotympanic is greatly inflated and the external auditory meatus does not form a tube (Petter, 1974; Van der Klaauw, 1931; Woz- encraft, 1984). The external morphology of the Malagasy mongooses is also distinctive. Galidia is the only reddish-brown mongoose with a black-ringed tail. Salanoia is unicolored brown. Mungotictis and Galidictis are the only mongooses with longitudinal stripes running from just behind the ears to the base of the tail. During the course of a systematic study of the Herpestidae, two specimens were discovered in collections that represented morphotypes outside the range of variation for the currently recognized taxa. These specimens most closely resemble Galidictis in cranial and external mor- phology and are here named as a new species in that genus.