Kingdom Animalia Class Mammalia Suborder Feliformia Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Order Carnivora Family Viverridae | |
Similar Paradoxurus aureus, Golden palm civet, Brown palm civet, Leighton's linsang, Bourlon's genet | ||
Paradoxurus montanus, the Sri Lankan brown palm civet, is a viverrid species endemic to Sri Lanka where it is known as ශ්රී ලංකා බොර කලවැද්දා (Sri Lanka Bora Kalawedda) in Sinhala. Until 2009, it was considered as the same species as the golden palm civet, but proposed to be given specific rank.
Contents
Characteristics
The body color of the Sri Lankan brown palm civet is dark, slightly greyish-toned wood-brown, and paler on the underside. The tip of the tail is yellowish-white. It differs from Paradoxurus aureus. All the other morphological appearances is equal to P. aureus , by having large eyes with vertical pupils, round prominent ears and furry skin and tail. Its feet have retractable claws.
Scent
The most remarkable feature of this species is their scent. This civet is known to emits a very pleasant odour from anal glands, where other civets emits very unpleasant odour. This scent is reminiscent of Michelia champaca flowers, known colloquially as sapumal in Sinahala language. So, this animal is sometimes known as "Sapumal kalawedda - සපුමල් කලවැද්දා".
Taxonomy
Initially, all three endemic civet species in Sri Lanka were considered a single species Paradoxurus aureus. But recent morphological studies of museum specimens, P. aureus was split into three separate species in the same genus Paradoxurus. The other two endemic species are Paradoxurus montanus and Paradoxurus stenocephalus.