Genetta maculata
Genetta maculata (Gray, 1830)
Common name: rusty-spotted genet.
Synonyms: aequatorialis Heuglin, 1866; albiventris Roberts, 1932; deorum Funaioli and Simonetta, 1960; erlangeri Matschie, 1902; fieldiana Du Chaillu, 1860; gleimi Matschie, 1902; insularis Cabrera, 1921; matschiei Neumann, 1902; pumila Hollister, 1916; schraderi Matschie, 1902; soror Schwarz, 1929; stuhlmanni Matschie, 1902; zambesiana Matschie, 1902.
Distribution: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea (Basilio, 1962), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia.
Habitat: rain forest, woodland savannah, savannah-forest mosaic, montane forest.
Sympatric species: G. abyssinica, G. angolensis, G. cristata, G. genetta, G. poensis, G. "schoutedeni", G. servalina, G. thierryi, G. victoriae, P. richardsonii .
* Similar with G. letabae, but (1) narrower inter-orbital constriction relative to frontal width, and (2) larger zygomatic arch (characterized through morphometric geometric analysis; Gaubert et al., 2005).
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Teeth
- General aspect of the dentition : normal
- m2 : developed (similar to size of m1 talonid)
- M2 : present, well developed
- Flattening of the anterior region of the mandible : absent
- m1 talonid : developed (hypoconulid, entoconid and hypoconid present)
- P3 lingual cusp : absent or extremely reduced ; present
Body proportion
Pads
Teats
Hair ultrastructure
- Cortex of dorsal guard hair (spatula) : thin (< 1/3 medulla width)
- Cross section shape of dorsal guard hair (base of spatula) : round or slightly ovoid
- Margin of the scales located in the middle of the spatula of dorsal guard hair : smooth
- Shape of the scales located between the base and the middle of dorsal guard hair : baso-distally compressed
Coat
- Pair of wide median nuchal stripes : absent
- Coat of hindfoot : same as ground coloration but dark around pads
- Coat of upper leg : same as ground coloration but dark posterior part
- Coat of inner upper leg : same as ground coloration
- Spots on upper leg : not merged
- Coat of forefoot : same as ground coloration
- Coat of upper arm : same as ground coloration
- Mid-dorsal crest : absent (similar length than adjacent dorsal hairs)
- Length of hairs on tail : short (from 20 to 30 mm)
- Tip of the tail : dark
- Chin : inferior chops bordered by a thin dark stripe
- Sagital (nuchal) crest : absent
- Rings on tail : present
- Dorsal spots : present
- Number of bright rings on tail (not included, if present: i) short, distal bright ring, and ii) last bright ring covered with dark) : six ; seven ; eight ; nine
- Relative width of the bright rings over the dark rings (middle of tail, dorsal view) : between 50 and 75 %
- Shape of the first dark rings of the tail : circle
- Distal part of the tail : the last bright ring is covered with dark
- "Dirty"stripe longitudinally crossing the rings of the upper part of the tail : well marked
- Mid-dorsal line : present
- Longitudinal coalescence of the first row of dorsal spots (contiguous to mid-dorsal line) : absent ; weak,at the rump (fusion of 2-3 spots)
- Density of distribution of dorsal spots : low
- Mid-dorsal line, pattern : continuous stripe
- Mid-dorsal line, coloration : full dark
Skull
- Maxillary-palatine suture position in relation to main cusp of P3 : at the same level
- Premaxillary-maxillary suture position in relation to cusp of P1 : forward
- Ventral inflation of the caudal entotympanic bone (ceb) : strong (twice as much inflated than ectotympanic bone)
- Staphylinal fissure : V-shaped
- Interorbital constriction : strong (inferior to 1 - 0.12) ; intermediate (equal to 1 +/- 0.12)
- Posterior extension of the frontal bones, from post-orbital process to post-orbital constriction : moderated, overlapping ca. 50 % of the dorsal part of the interorbital constriction
- Premaxillary-frontal contact : absent ; present
- Shape of crest of insertion of temporal muscles (upper part of the parietal) : very narrow, elevated