Paradoxurus, Groves & Rajapaksha & Manemandra-Arachchi, 2009

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 (1), pp. 238-251 : 250

PARADOXURUS STENOCEPHALUS SP. NOV.

GOLDEN DRY- ZONE PALM CIVET

Type: BM 50.1494, adult female skin and skull, Panama – sea coast, E.P., Sri Lanka.

Paratype: BM 33.7 .24.1, adult male skin and (damaged) skull, Koslanda, Lipton’s Tea Estate .

Diagnosis: Golden-brown, somewhat dull in tone, with three thin but clear dark brown stripes down the back from withers to near tail base. Underside paler, more gold than upper side, forming a sharply distinct pale zone. Skull like P. aureus F., large in size with wide muzzle, high braincase, square occipital crest with parallel sides, and coronoid process curved strongly backwards, but much narrower across zygomatic arches, and with narrow interpterygoid fossa.

Distribution: The species is so far known from only two specimens, the type and paratype, but as noted above, an animal (a male) trapped at Walpolamulla (625 m a.s.l.) in the Knuckles Range is identical. The consistency of the differences, in both external and craniomandibular features, is striking, and there seems no doubt that it is distinct.

Etymology: Narrow-headed (Greek stenos = narrow, kephalos = head).