Sri Lankan Brown Palm Civets (Paradoxurus montanus): Non-Ringtails of Sri Lanka

From the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and throughout the twentieth century, mammalogists generally attribute three civet species to the North Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka. They typically cluster the pearl-shaped island's civets into two groups:

• The endemic golden palm civet, Paradoxurus zeylonensis;

• The native Asian palm (P. hermaphroditus) and small Indian (Viverricula indica) civets.

They usually debate the identification of the endemic civet more than those of the natives, whose homelands extend outside Sri Lanka and throughout East and Southeast Asia. And yet the formal taxonomies of the Asian and golden palm civets derive from the same-year conclusions of one specialist, Berlin-born German botanist and zoologist Peter Simon Pallas (September 22, 1741 – September 8, 1811).

The official descriptions of Asian and golden palm civets date back to 1777. The formal identification of golden palm civets specifically deals with a preserved specimen of unknown provenance. Scientists do not have access to the Pallas specimen even though they still may consult the Pallas description published in respected Weißensee-born German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber's (January 17, 1739 – December 10, 1810) reputable Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen (“Mammals Illustrated from Nature with Descriptions”) of 1778. They know that the taxonomy is based upon examination of a spirits-preserved specimen in the nature cabinet of Paul I (October 1, 1754 – March 23, 1801) during the Russian Emperor's Crown Prince years.

Other descriptions of other specimens from Sri Lanka appear in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:

• 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;

• Reginald Innes Pocock (March 4, 1863 – August 9, 1947) in 1933.

The most recent identification -- published in 2009 -- comes from Australian National University Professor Colin P. Groves. Institutions whose preserved Sri Lankan palm civet skins and skulls remain accessible include:

• Colombo University in Sri Lanka;

• The British Museum of Natural History in London, England;

• The National Museum of Sri Lanka at Colombo.

Scientists in the twentieth century accept all of the above-mentioned scientists as worthy taxonomists. But the classifications which appear likeliest to survive the first quarter of the twenty-first century are the Cuvier, Groves, and Kelaart conclusions. The Groves publication challenges the Pallas classification as based upon an inaccessible, unfamiliar specimen which may represent the golden-colored morph of an Asian palm civet. The Groves taxonomy instead chooses as correct nomenclature:

• A new species, the golden dry-zone palm civet (P. stenocephalus);

• A species previously relegated as synonymous with the Pallas specimen, the golden wet-zone palm civet (P. aureus);

• A species previously represented as synonymous with the Pallas specimen, the Sri Lankan brown palm civet (P. montanus).

The Groves article acknowledges brown and gold as basic colors for Sri Lanka's endemic palm civets. It bio-geographically associates live-trapped and museum specimens as follows:

• Brownish gold dry-zone palm civets, P. stenocephalus, per Commercial Bank professional Channa Rajapaksha's live-trapped specimens;

• Brownish-reddish gold wet-zone palm civets, P. aureus, per the Cuvier specimen;

• Greyish brown (dry- and wet-zone) palm civets, P. montanus, per the Kelaart specimen.

Only dry-zone endemics therefore claim one biotic (life) zone. Wet-zone endemics cluster in:

• Cloud-forest niches in the wet-zone's Central Highlands;

• Intermediate lowland niches between dry- and wet-zones.

Sri Lankan brown palm civets inhabit:

• Cloud-forested niches in the wet Central Highlands;

• Lowland to Knuckles Range niches in the dry-zone.

Color belongs among the physical characteristics when scientists classify the world’s organisms. It counts critically or non-critically when scientists check bio-geography and biology prefatory to constructing life cycles and natural histories. For example, a species generally displays darker and lighter color subtleties. The subtleties sometimes get packaged as:

• Differences among morphs;
• Distinctions between species;
• Divisions into subspecies.

For instance, they historically inspire the apparent confusion over Sri Lanka’s brown and golden palm civets. But thanks to the Groves and Manemandra-Arachchi involvements with the Rajapaksha specimens, scientists currently lean toward interpreting :

• Brown as identifying Asian and Sri Lankan brown palm civets;
• Gold as indicating golden dry-zone and wet-zone palm civets;
• Both colors morphing in the same litters.

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

Paradoxurus hermaphroditus hermaphroditus
R.I. Pocock, The Fauna of British India, Vol. I Mammalia (1939), between pp. 390-391: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/PocockMammalia1/page/n475/mode/1up

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

Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier
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

Paradoxurus aureus
illustration by Joseph Smit (July 18, 1836 – November 4, 1929); W.T. Blanford, "A Monograph of the Genus Paradoxurus, F. Cuv."
Proceedings of the 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

Peak Wilderness Sanctuary
Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces, Sri Lanka: Bernard Gagnon (Bgag), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sri_Pada_02.jpg

Sapumal kalawedda (Paradoxurus montanus)
"Chasing Civets," The Sunday Times, January 18, 2009: The Sunday Times, CC BY SA 2.0 @ https://www.sundaytimes.lk/090118/Plus/sundaytimesplus_01.html

"The Chumpa or Champak," ca. 1878 oil on board painting by English Victorian botanical artist Marianne North (Oct. 24, 1830-Aug. 30, 1890)
Marianne North Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Photo credit The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MN317_The_Chumpa_or_Champak.jpg

Nuwara Eliya
Sri Lankan highlands, Central Province, Sri Lanka: Wolfgangbeyer (Wolfgangbeyer at the German language Wikipedia), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sri_Lanka_Teeplantage.jpg

Knuckles Mountain Range
Central Province, Sri Lanka: claire rowland (clurr), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/clurr/3128390789/

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