Small Indian mongoose | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Suborder: | Feliformia |
Family: | Herpestidae |
Genus: | Herpestes |
Species: | H. auropunctatus
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Binomial name | |
Herpestes auropunctatus (Hodgson, 1836)
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The small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) is a mongoose species native to South Asia that has been introduced to many regions of the world.[1]
Taxonomy
Mangusta auropunctata was the scientific name proposed by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1836 for a mongoose specimen collected in central Nepal.[2] In the 19th and 20th centuries, several zoological specimens were described:
- Mangusta pallipes by Edward Blyth in 1845 were mongooses observed in Kandahar, Afghanistan.[3]
- Herpestes palustris by R. K. Ghose in 1965 was an adult male mongoose collected in a swamp on the eastern fringe of Kolkata, India.[4]
Distribution and habitat
Introduction to Hawaii
In the 1800s sugar cane plantations shot up on many tropical islands, including Hawaii, Fiji and Jamaica. With sugar cane came rats, attracted to the sweet plant, which caused crop destruction and loss. Attempts were made to introduce the mongoose in Trinidad in 1870 to control the rats, but this failed.[5] A subsequent trial with four males and five females from Calcutta, however, established the species in Jamaica in 1872. A paper published by W. B. Espeut that praised the results intrigued Hawaiian plantation owners, who, in 1883, brought 72 mongooses from Jamaica to the Hamakua Coast on the Big Island. These were raised and their offspring were shipped to plantations on other islands.[6]
Accounts from the sugar industry in the early 20th century state that the introduced mongooses were effective at reducing the number of rats, mice, and insects.[7] However, the mongooses have been deleterious to native birds, which evolved in the absence of mammalian predators, as well as preying on the eggs of endangered sea turtles.[8]
Only the islands of Lana'i and Kaua'i are thought to be free of mongooses. There are two conflicting stories of why Kaua'i was spared. The first is that the residents of Kaua'i were opposed to having the animals on the island, and when the ship carrying the offspring reached Kaua'i, the animals were thrown overboard and drowned. A second story tells that on arriving on Kaua'i one of the mongooses bit a dockworker, who, in a fit of anger, threw the caged animals into the harbor to drown.[9]
Introduction to Caribbean
Starting in 1870, the small Indian mongoose was introduced to Jamaica, Cuba, Hispaniola, and St. Croix, to prey upon black rats (Rattus rattus) that were ravaging the sugarcane industry. Another reason for introducing the mongoose was to reduce snakes in the cane fields. While successful in reducing sugarcane damage from rats,[10][11] the introduction had a negative impact on reptiles and other animals. The green iguana (Iguana iguana, also believed to be an introduced species) has been greatly reduced in number, and the ground lizard Ameiva polops was eliminated from the island of St. Croix before 1962 (but not from Protestant Cay, Green Cay, Ruth Cay, and Buck Island). Ground-nesting birds may also have been affected, as well as rock iguanas and mammals native to the region, such as hutias and solenodons.[10]
Introduction to Okinawa
The mongoose was introduced onto Okinawa Island in 1910 and Amami Ōshima Island in 1979 in an attempt to control the population of the venomous snake Protobothrops flavoviridis, an endemic species, and other pests, but they have since become pests themselves.[12][13][14]
References
- ^ a b Jennings, A. & Veron, G. (2016). "Herpestes auropunctatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T70204120A70204139.
- ^ Hodgson, B. H. (1836). "Synoptical description of sundry new animals, enumerated in the Catalogue of Nipalese Mammals". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 5 (52): 231–238.
- ^ Blyth, E. (1845). "Additions and corrections to Rough notes on the Zoology of Candahar and the neighbouring districts by Thomas Hutton". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 15 (170): 169–170.
- ^ Ghose, R. K. (1965). "A new species of mongoose (Mammalia: Carnivora: Viverridae) from West Bengal, India". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Calcutta. 18 (2): 173–178.
- ^ Hoagland, D. B., G. R. Horst, and C. W. Kilpatrick (1989) Biogeography and population biology of the mongoose in the West Indies. Pages 611–634 in C. A. Woods, editor. Biogeography of the West Indies. Sand Hill Crane Press, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
- ^ Espeut, W. B. 1882. On the acclimatization of the Indian mongoose in Jamaica. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1882:712–714.
- ^ Kim, Alice. "Mongooses in Hawaii Newspapers". University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ "Mongoose". Hawaii Invasive Species Council. 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
- ^ "Hawaiian Creatures - Small Asian Mongoose". www.instanthawaii.com. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
- ^ a b George A. Seaman; John E. Randall (1962). "The Mongoose as a Predator in the Virgin Islands". Journal of Mammalogy. 43 (4): 544–546. doi:10.2307/1376922. JSTOR 1376922.
- ^ Roy, S. (2020). "Herpestes auropunctatus (small Indian mongoose)". Invasive Species Compendium. CAB International. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
- ^ "The Small Asian Mongoose introduced to the Island of Okinawa and Amami-Oshima: The Impact and Control Measure." Science Links Japan. Accessed 15 Feb 2009.
- ^ Fisher, Cindy. Marines defend Camp Gonsalves from encroaching mongoose 9 July 2006. Stars and Stripes. Accessed 15 Feb 2009.
- ^ okinawanaturephotography.com