Golden Palm Civets (Paradoxurus zeylonensis): Non-Ringtail Mysteries of Sri Lanka

The existence of golden palm civets emerges through:

• Many specimens in Colombo (Sri Lanka), London (England), and Paris (France);
• Multiple identifications by William Thomas Blanford (October 7, 1832 – June 23, 1905) in 1885, Georges-Frédéric Cuvier (June 28, 1773 – July 24, 1838) in 1822, Edward Frederick Kelaart (November 21, 1819 – August 31, 1860) in 1852, and Reginald Innes Pocock (March 4, 1863 – August 9, 1947) in 1933.

Peter Simon Pallas’s (September 22, 1741 – September 8, 1811) pioneering description in 1777 still exists in Johann Christian Daniel Edler von Schreber’s  (January 17, 1739 – December 10, 1810) publication Die Säugetiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen (“Mammals Illustrated from Nature with Descriptions”) of 1778. But his specimen is unavailable.

The specimen that inspires a taxonomic description assumes importance as a physical record to be consulted before altering, rejecting, or validating its identification. The Pallas presentation can be considered controversial in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and problematic in the twenty-first century. It draws upon one specimen from the nature cabinet of Paul I (October 1, 1754 – March 23, 1801) during the subsequently assassinated Russian Emperor’s years as Crown Prince. The Pallas specimen enters into the historical and scientific record because of the Berlin-born German botanist and zoologist’s access to imperial collections by invitation of Empress Catherine II (May 2, 1729 – November 17, 1796). But nobody today has access to the specimen or knowledge of its whereabouts.

Specialists variously attribute cub-, kit-, and pup-like similarities to civet physiques. The Pallas description begins with the title Der Boshond (“The bush dog”). It concentrates on:

• Blackened rump and tail;
• Brown-overlaid grey upper-coat;
• Dog-like lower lips;
• Five-digited paws;
• Light under-coat;
• Long, thick-based tail;
• Marten-like, thin fur;
• Same-colored neck and throat;
• Super-visible bristle-bearing warts;
• White beard bristles ordered into five rows and reaching backward past flat, soft-haired ears.

But it does not match the subsequent Blanford, Cuvier, Kelaart, and Pocock descriptions and specimens. Three features emerge as particularly troublesome:

• Black posterior;
• Ears in the path of backward-curving whiskers;
• White whiskers.  

They find resolution in the twenty-first century as characteristics of morphs (variants) of Asia’s common, ubiquitous palm civet.

Scientific nomenclature can be accepted, changed, or ejected. Side-lining from prevailing, proper terminology generally comes about through:

• Genetic evidence;
• Physical features.

The Pallas identification apparently describes the physique of a species whose presentation dates back to the same year, 1777, by the same taxonomist. But its questionability does not necessarily challenge the taxonomist’s qualifications since proper observations depend upon:

• Ambiance (impacted by inadequate space, poor lighting);
• Expertise;
• Procedure;
• Specimens (damaged by conditions of capture or types of preservatives);
• Timeline.  

Its questionability indicates merely a need to retire the classification, not the notion of Sri Lanka-only palm civets. The Blanford, Cuvier, Kelaart, and Pocock specimens indeed lack overlaps with the Pallas descriptions of Asian and golden palm civets.

Challenges to the Pallas classification and support for Sri Lanka-exclusive civets come from:

• The field work of Commercial Bank professional Channa Rajapaksha;
• The scientific expertise of Australian National University Professor Colin P. Groves and Wildlife Heritage Trust professional Kelum Manemandra-Arachchi.

The camera- and live-trapped Rajapaksha specimens give Colombo’s national gardens, museum, and university current samples to be analyzed and living animals to be observed. The joint publication detailing the trio’s data collection and taxonomic conclusions leads amateurs and professionals from the disappointments over mistaken identities to the excitement of phenomenal discoveries. The three authors indeed offer thrilling possibilities that Sri Lanka gains three or more endemic species at the same time that the pearl-shaped isle loses one.

Scientists in the twenty-first century attribute major significance to wildlife diversity and sustainability. Diversity can involve endemic, native, and naturalized species. Sustainability depends as much upon showcasing different organisms as surviving environmental stresses. It generally faces its biggest challenges on islands since agro-industrialism and suburbanization impact smaller total areas over shorter time periods. It typically finds the greatest contradictions between the peril to national wildlife and the pull of world markets in the modernist versus traditionalist interactions along urban – wildland interfaces. Awareness of a rare endemic existing only in the mind therefore gives cause for sorrow. But the concomitant realization of rare endemics existing in real-time on Sri Lanka is joyful cause for:

• Activism;
• Funding;
• Protection;
• Research.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier, early Golden Palm Civets describer
portrait by Mattheus Ignatius van Bree (February 22, 1773 - December 15, 1839): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cuvier-1769-1832.jpg

Portrait of Paul I of Russia
Russian Museum, Room 12, Mikhailovsky Palace, St. Petersburg, northwestern Russia: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Borovikovskiy_PtPavla1GRM.jpg

Peter Simon Pallas by Ambroise Tardieu
stipple engraving by Ambroise Tardieu (March 2, 1788-January 17, 1841), after himself: Public Domain, via Wellcome Collection @ https://wellcomecollection.org/works/zyyfvgft

Asian Common Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus)
Asian Common Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), known as luwak in Indonesian: Jordy Meow, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luwak.jpg

Knuckles Mountain Range
Central Province, Sri Lanka: Cherubino, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knuckles_Mountain_Range_10.JPG

Distribution data from IUCN Red List: Chermundy/IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, species assessors and the authors of the spatial data, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Palm_Civet_area.png

Golden Wet-Zone Palm Civet (Paradoxurus aureus)
W.T. Blanford, "A Monograph of the Genus Paradoxurus, F. Cuv."
Proceedings of Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London for the Year 1885 (Nov. 3), Plate L, between pp. 780-781: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28697822

Paradoxurus zeylonensis: a real species?
Sinharaja Forest Reserve, southern Sri Lanka: Kalyanvarma, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paradoxurus_zeylonensis.jpg

Sri Lanka, a teardrop-shaped island in the Indian Ocean
southern India and Sri Lanka; May 13, 2013, image by Suomi NPP (National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite; NASA ID GSFC_20171208_Archive_e001478: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-GSFC_20171208_Archive_e001478

palm civet on neighbor's roof at nightfall
Battaramulla, suburb of Colombo, Western Province, southwestern Sri Lanka: foto.rajith, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/rajith_foto/3426840814/

Arnold, Michael L. 2008. Reticulate Evolution and Humans: Origins and Ecology. Oxford University Press.

Bell, D.; Roberton, S.; and Hunter, P. R. 2004. "Animal Origins of SARS Coronavirus: Possible Links with the International Trade in Small Carnivores." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences 359:1107-1114.

Bisby, F.A.; Roskov, Y.R.; Orrell, T.M.; Nicolson, D.; Paglinawan, L.E.; Bailly, N.; Kirk, P.M.; Bourgoin, T.; Baillargeon, G.; and Ouvrard, D. (red.). 2011. "Paradoxurus zeylonensis (Schreber, 1778)." Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist. Reading, UK. Retrieved September 23, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=621987

Blanford, W.T. (William Thomas). 1885. "A Monograph of the Genus Paradoxurus, F. Cuv." Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London for the Year 1885 (November 3, 1885): 780 - 808.

• Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28697819

Boelens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; and Grayson, Michael. 2009. The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. Johns Hopkins University. 

Boudet, Ch. 10 January 2009. "Species Sheet: Golden Palm Civet." Mammals' Planet: Vs n°4, 04/2010. Retrieved September 23, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.planet-mammiferes.org/drupal/en/node/38?indice=Paradoxurus+zeylonensis

Boudet, Ch. 10 January 2009. "Subspecies sheet [Paradoxurus zeylonensis aureus]." Mammals' Planet: Vs n°4, 04/2010. Retrieved September 23, 2014. 

• Available at: http://www.planet-mammiferes.org/drupal/en/node/39?indice=Paradoxurus+zeylonensis+aureus

Boudet, Ch. 10 January 2009. "Subspecies sheet [Paradoxurus zeylonensis fuscus]." Mammals' Planet: Vs n°4, 04/2010. Retrieved September 23, 2014. 

• Available at: http://www.planet-mammiferes.org/drupal/en/node/39?indice=Paradoxurus+zeylonensis+fuscus

Boudet, Ch. 10 January 2009. "Subspecies sheet: Golden Musang." Mammals' Planet: Vs n°4, 04/2010. Retrieved September 23, 2014. 

• Available at: http://www.planet-mammiferes.org/drupal/en/node/39?indice=Paradoxurus+zeylonensis+zeylanica

Cassell's Universal Portrait Gallery: A Collection of Portraits of Celebrities, English and Foreign. With Facsimile Autographs. 1895. London, Paris & Melbourne: Cassell and Company, Limited.

• Available via Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/cassellsuniversa00londiala

"Chasing Civets." The Sunday Times Plus: Sunday, January 18, 2009. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Wiijeya Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved September 23, 2014. 

• Available at: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090118/Plus/sundaytimesplus_01.html

Corbet, G.B.; and Hill, J.E. 1992. Mammals of the Indo-Malayan Region: A Systematic Review. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press.

Cuvier, Frédéric. 1822. "Du genre Paradoxure et de deux espèces nouvelles qui s'y rapportent."Mémoires du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Tome Neuvième: 41 - 48.

• Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34824449
• Available via Internet Archive at: http://archive.org/stream/mmoiresdumus91822mus#page/41/mode/1up

Driver, Stephanie (ed.). 2008. Exploring Mammals, Volume 3. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Corporation.

Duff, Andrew; and Lawson, Ann. 2004. Mammals of the World: A Checklist. Yale University Press.

Ewer, R.F. 1998. The Carnivores. Cornell University Press: Cornell Paperbacks.

Gaubert, P.; and Cordeiro-Estrela, P. 2006. “Phylogenetic Systematics and Tempo of Evolution of the Viverrinae (Mammalia, Carnivora, Viverridae) within Feliformians: Implications for Faunal Exchanges between Asia and Africa.” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 41:266-278.

Gervais, Paul. 1855. Histoire naturelle des Mammifères: Carnivores, Proboscidiens, Jumentés, Bisulques, Édentés, Marsupiaux, Monotrèmes, Phoques, Sirénides et Cétacés. Paris: L. Curmer.

Gittleman, John L.; Funk, Stephan M.; Macdonald, David; and Wayne, Robert K. (eds.). 2001. Carnivore Conservation. Cambridge University Press: Conservation Biology 5.

“Golden Palm Civet Pictures and Facts.” The Website of Everything: Animals > Mammals > Carnivora > Viverridae > Paradoxurinae > Arctogalidia. Retrieved September 23, 2014.

• Available at: http://thewebsiteofeverything.com/animals/mammals/Carnivora/Viverridae/Paradoxurus/Paradoxurus-zeylonensis.html

Gray, J.E. 1832. "On the Family of Viverridae and its Generic Sub-divisions, with an Enumeration of the Species of Several New Ones." Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London 1832(2):63-68.

Groves, Colin P.: Rajapaksha, Channa; Manemandra-Arachchi, Kelum. 2009. “The Taxonomy of the Endemic Golden Palm Civet of Sri Lanka.” Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 155:238-251.

Hayssen, Virginia; Van Tienhoven, Ari; and Van Tienoven, Ans. Asdell’s Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data. Cornell University, 1993.

Hunter, Luke; and Barrett, Priscilla. 2011. A Field Guide to the Carnivores of the World. London, Cape Town, Sydney, Auckland: New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd.

Jennings, A. P.; and Veron, J. 2009. "Family Viverridae (Civets, Genets, and Oyans)." In: Don E. Wilson and Russel Mittermeier (Hrsg.) Handbook of the Mammals of the World Volume 1: Carnivores. Lynx Edicions.

Kondo, H.; Tesar, J.; Cloud, D.; Kagan, L. (eds.). 1972. Civets, Genets, and Linsangs, Volume 2, 3rd Edition. Milan: Fratelli Fabbri Editori.

Larivière, Serge. 2004. "Civets, Genets, and Linsangs (Viverridae)." Pp. 335-339 in Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Second Edition. Volume 14: Mammals III, edited by Michael Hutchins, Devra G. Kleiman, Valerius Geist, and Melissa C. McDade. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, Inc., division of Thomson Learning Inc.

McGinley, Mark. 8 May 2014. Sri Lanka Dry-zone Dry Evergreen Forests. World Wildlife Fund: Conservation Biology, Biodiversity, Ecology. Retrieved September 23, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/156229/

Miles, A.E.W.; and Grigson, Caroline (eds.). 1990. Colyer's Variations and Diseases of the Teeth of Animals. Cambridge University Press.

Muddappa, D.; Wozencraft, C.; Yonzon, P.; Jennings, A.; and Veron, G. 2008. “Paradoxurus zeylonensis.” In: IUCN 2014. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. Retrieved September 23, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/41694/0

Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, Sixth Edition. Volume I. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Pocock, R.I. 1939. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Mammalia – Volume 1. London: Taylor and Francis.

• Available via Internet Archive at: http://www.archive.org/stream/PocockMammalia1/pocock1#page/n465/mode/2up

Ranwala, Dr. Sudheera. March 2012. Flora in Sri Lanka. University of Colombo, Sri Lanka: Department of Plant Sciences Training Course of National Tourist Guides Conducted by the Tourist Board.

Schreber, J. C. D. 1777. Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen 1776-1778. Wolfgang Walther, Erlangen, 3:377-440, pls. 104B, 107Aa, 109B, 110B, 115B, 125B, 127B, 136, 146A

Schreiber, A.; Wirth, R.; Riffel, M.; and Van Rompaey, H. 1989. Weasels, Civets, Mongooses, and Their Relatives. An Action Plan for the Conservation of Mustelids and Viverrids. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.

Schweighoefer, Kristen. 1999. "Paradoxurus zeylonensis: Golden Palm Civet (On-line)." Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Retrieved September 23, 2014.

• Available at: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Paradoxurus_zeylonensis.html

Srinivasulu, Chelmala; and Srinivasulu, Bhargavi. 2012. South Asian Mammals: Their Diversity, Distribution, and Status. NY: Springer Science+Business Media.

Veron, Geraldine. 2010. “Phylogeny of the Viverridae and ‘Viverrid-like’ Feliforms.” Pp. 64-90 in Carnivoran Evolution: New Views on Phylogeny, Form and Function edited by Anjali Goswami and Anthony Friscia. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge Studies in Morphology and Molecules.

Wijeyeratne, Gehan. 29 August 2008. A Photographic Guide to Mammals of Sri Lanka. New Holland Publishers Ltd. 

Wijeyeratne, Gehan. 1 October 2007. Sri Lankan Wildlife. Globe Pequot PressL Bradt Guides. 

Wilson, Don E.; and Cole, F. Russell. 2000. Common Names of Mammals of the World. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Wilson, Don E.; and Reeder, DeeAnn M. (editors). 2005. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press.

Wrobel, Murray (Editor). 2007. Elsevier's Dictionary of Mammals: Latin English German French Italian. Oxford, U.K.: Elsevier B.V.