Herpestidae

A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family has two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to southern Europe, Africa and Asia, whereas the Mungotinae comprises 11 species native to Africa. The Herpestidae originated about 21.8 ± 3.6 million years ago in the Early Miocene and genetically diverged into two main lineages between 19.1 and 18.5 ± 3.5 million years ago. There is a large introduced population on the islands of Hawaii. Mongoose diets are varied but consist of mainly insects, rodents, reptiles and birds.

Herpestidae

edit: Alborzagros · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
mongoosePBDB
Sits inside
ViverroideaPBDB
Diet
insectivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 14 of 152 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 23 of 152 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 80 of 152 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–10 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.8–9.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.1–8.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences8.4–7.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences7.7–7.0 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences7.0–6.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.3–5.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.6–4.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 20 occurrences2.1–1.4 Mya — about 19 occurrences1.4–698 ka Mya — about 15 occurrences698 ka–0 Mya — about 63 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka20.9 Mya0 Mya

152 occurrences of Herpestidae 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

152 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

19 formations

Swartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EVogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.21°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.01°N, 36.00°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EHadar — 11.13°N, 40.59°ENakali — 1.18°N, 36.37°ELukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EC1/LR — 33.58°N, 7.65°WOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.72°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EBahe — 33.50°N, 109.50°ESagantole — 10.52°N, 40.47°EMagabet — 0.67°N, 35.83°E

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The named rock units Herpestidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 94 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Herpestidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Herpestidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,185 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 101 sites for Herpestidae, 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

82 references

Each of the 152 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. 70 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 content2

Picture of Herpestidae

Credit
edit: Alborzagros
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itViverroidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Bonaparte 1845)