Letabae Genets (Genetta letabae): Ringtails of Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland

The formal presentation of letabae genets to scientists outside Africa dates back to 1906. It deals with the specimens collected by Charles Dunell Rudd (October 22, 1844 – November 15, 1916) of Hanworth Hall, Norfolk, England, as:

• Athlete and student at Wadhurst, Harrow, and Trinity College Cambridge;

• Diamond dealer, gold miner, ice cream/ice-making and pumping machinery/wire rope seller, and insurance agent in Cape Colony.

It draws upon the excellent experience and extraordinary expertise of Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (February 21, 1858 – June 16, 1929) of Millbrook, Bedfordshire, England, as:

• Pupil at Haileybury College, Hertford;

• Taxonomist of 2,000 new species and subspecies;

• Writer of 1,000+ books, catalogues, and documents;

• Zoologist at London's Natural History Museum. 

Wildlife-lovers apply two kinds of names to letabae genets. One category constitutes the common, informal, trivial, or vernacular derivation from popular use or the weight of tradition. The other classification functions as the binomial (“two-name”), Latin, scientific, or taxonomic identification which emerges from the consensus of specialists. The terminology is more or less one and the same in the case of letabae genets. For example, letabae may be considered the genet in question's common name. Genetta letabae -- with the former the genus and the latter the species -- represents the scientific name per species status, with Genetta maculata letabae the genus-species-subspecies elaboration. The modern Latinized term letabae serves to honor the location of the Rudd specimen.

South Africa's eastern Limpopo Province accommodates stretches of the Letaba River. The water body attracts Kruger National Park's twenty-first century visitors to such other riverside wildlife as:

• Crocodiles;

• Elephants, giraffes, impalas, waterbucks, and zebras;

• Emu, owls, parrots, and pigeons.

Riverine environments and South Africa indeed count within the letabae genet's bio-geography. But letabae genets also emerge as wildlife native to:

• Lesotho;

• Mozambique;

• Namibia;

• Swaziland.

The letabae is Lesotho's and Swaziland's only endemic genet species. Letabae genets otherwise range semi-sympatrically (“same-ranging”) with 4 other species. African – Eurasian common small-spotted (Genetta genetta), Angolan miombo (G. angolensis), blotched large-spotted Cape (G. tigrina), letabae, and Schouteden's (G. schoutedeni) genets share country-specific distributions even though habitats and niches may not overlap.  

South Africa's Cape genets appreciate:

• Coastal forests;

• Grasslands;

• Shrublands.

Montane rainforest-dwelling Schouteden's genets favor:

• Angola;

• Burundi;

• Cameroon, Centrafrique, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa;

• Ethiopia;

• Ghana;

• Kenya;

• Mozambique;

• Nigeria;

• Rwanda;

• Sudan;

• Tanzania, Togo;

• Uganda.

Brachystegia savannah-drawn Angola's genets inhabit:

• Botswana;

• Congo-Kinshasa;

• Malawi, Mozambique;

• Tanzania;

• Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Letabae-, miombo-, Schouteden-favored forest/woodland-savannah mosaics interest common genets of:

• Algeria;

• Angola;

• Benin, Botswana, Burkina;

• Chad;

• Djibouti;

• Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia;

• Ghana;

• Ivory Coast;

• Kenya;

• Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique;

• Namibia, Niger, Nigeria;

• Oman;

• Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan;

• Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia;

• Uganda;

• Yemen;

• Zambia, Zimbabwe.

All five semi-sympatric species individualize:

• Alert ears;
• Big eyes;
• 40 teeth;
• Short limbs;
• Spotted body;
• Striped tail;
• Tapered muzzle;
• 20 claws.

Cape genets manifest:

• Darkened, not light, paws;
• Line barely, not obviously, smudging the tail, base to tip.

Cape and miombo genets model darkened, not light, upper-limb inner-sides. Common genets reveal:

• Bright, not darkened, tail-tip;
• Brighter tail-rings 200%, not 50 – 75 %, wider than darker;
• Small-, not large-spotted, body;
• Upper-limb spots forming fragmented horizontal lines.

Letabae and Schouteden’s genets showcase:

• No mid-dorsal crest;
• Short tail-hairs, 20 – 30 millimeters (0.79 – 1.18 inches), not 40 – 45 (1.58 – 1.77), long;
• Thin chin stripe.

Consistent with all non-aquatic genets, the five semi-sympatric species in question are as elusively reclusive in the wild as they are affectionately loyal in captivity. They generally avoid conflict with predatory mammals, raptors, and reptiles. They cooperate with loose domestications which reward insect and small mammal and reptile control with climbing, jumping, leaping, and running spaces and with tree burrow, hollow, house or platform dens. They get along with family pets and farm animals even though hamsters, poultry, and songbirds may represent potential prey. They prefer life cycles and natural histories based upon:

• Individual dens in non-overlapping territories for same-gender neighbors and overlapping for mixed;
• Nocturnal forages;
• Opportunistic carnivorousness;
• Rainy-season mating;
• Yearly litters of 1+ grey-furred offspring.

It can be difficult to observe genets outside museum specimens. Camera-trapping, niche-modeling, and radio-telemetry expand opportunities. National parks, nature reserves, and other protected areas furnish wildlife-lovers with protracted, real-time interactions and investigations. All five possibilities help in sustaining letabae genet populations. Excepting a wider interorbital construction in comparison to frontal width, the letabae genet mirrors the rusty-spotted panther genet’s:

• Dark, continuous mid-dorsal line;
• Darkened chin, outer-sided rear paws, tail-tip, and upper-limbs;
• Hairy soles;
• Red-brown spots;
• 12 – 18 tail-bands with the brighter 50 – 70% wider than the darker.

It is this combination of awareness, inquiry, and protection that facilitates understanding the bio-geography and biology of one of the world’s newest species, letabae genets.

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

oil on canvas by John Ernest Breun (1862-1921): Kristofer M. Helgen, Roberto Portela Miguez, James Kohen, Lauren Helgen/ZooKeys, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Michael_Rogers_Oldfield_Thomas_-_ZooKeys-255-103-g003-bottom_right.jpeg; via Pensoft Publishers / ZooKeys @ https://zookeys.pensoft.net/showimg.php?filename=oo_25946.jpg

Charles Dunell Ruud
National Archives of Zimbabwe: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Rudd.jpeg

view on the Letaba River: Stuart Bassil, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Letaba_River_-_South_Africa_2008.jpg

St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa: Servien, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaapse_ginstkatte.JPG

Ngwenya Mine, Hhohho Region, northwestern Swaziland: Heather Dowd, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ngwenya_Mine.jpg

Angolan Genet (Genetta angolensis), also known as Miombo Genet for association with miombo ecosystem
Xesko, CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons: Xesko, CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Genetta_angolensis.jpg

Rusty-Spotted Panther Genet (Genetta maculata)
Little Kwara camp on Okavengo Delta, northwestern Botswana: The Lilac Breasted Roller from Sullivan's Island, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Genet_botswana.jpg

Phophonyane Falls, near Piggs Peak, Hhohho Region, northwest Swaziland: Africaspotter sur wikivoyage shared, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phophonyane_Falls_01.jpg

Mantenga Cultural Village, Ezulwini Valley, Hhohho Region, northwestern Swaziland: thomas, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mantenga_Cultural_Village_(7045460659)_(3).jpg

Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Ezulwini Valley, northwestern Eswatini: Vaiz Ha, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zabras_in_Mlilwane_Wildlife_Sanctuary.jpg; Vaiz Ha, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/vaizha/8523133949

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