Herpestes ichneumon

The Egyptian mongoose, also known as ichneumon, is a mongoose species native to the tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands of Africa and around the Mediterranean Basin in North Africa, the Middle East and the Iberian Peninsula. Whether it is introduced or native to the Iberian Peninsula is in some doubt. Because of its widespread occurrence, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Herpestes ichneumon

Anna Liflyand · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
Egyptian mongoosePBDB
Sits inside
HerpestesPBDB
Diet
insectivore, carnivorePBDB, for Herpestidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Herpestes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 19 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 19 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 15 of 19 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 3 of 19 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.3–2.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.1–1.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.9–1.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

19 occurrences of Herpestes ichneumon on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

19 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Vogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Herpestes ichneumon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 15 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Herpestes ichneumon and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Herpestes ichneumon and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

243 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Herpestes ichneumon, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

15 references

Each of the 19 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 3 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Herpestes ichneumon

Credit
Anna Liflyand
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Herpestes ichneumon was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHerpestes through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)