Javan mongoose

{{Speciesbox

| name = Javan mongoose

| image = Herpe_jav_110724-16129_tdp.JPG

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |title=Herpestes javanicus |name-list-style=amp |author=Chutipong, W. |author2=Duckworth, J. W. |author3=Timmins, R. |author4=Willcox, D. H. A. |author5=Ario, A. |date=2016 |page=e.T70203940A45207619}}

| genus = Urva

| species = javanica

| authority = (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818)

| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies

| subdivision = U. j. javanica

U. j. exilis

U. j. orientalis

U. j. peninsulae

U. j. perakensis

U. j. rafflesii

U. j. rubifrons

U. j. siamensis

U. j. tjerapai

| range_map = JavanMongoose_distribution.png

| range_map_caption = Javan mongoose range

| synonyms =

}}

The Javan mongoose (Urva javanica) is a mongoose species native to Southeast Asia.

Taxonomy

Ichneumon javanicus was the scientific name proposed by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1818.{{cite book |author=Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, É. |year=1818 |chapter=De l'Ichneumon. Ichneumon pharaon |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/DescriptiondelEIIFranB/page/139 |pages=137–144 |volume=Tome II |title=Description de l'Égypte, ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'éxpédition de l'armée française |editor1=Jomard, E. F. |publisher=l'Imprimerie Royale |location=Paris}} It was later classified in the genus Herpestes, but all Asian mongooses are now thought to belong in the genus Urva.{{Cite web|title=ASM Mammal Diversity Database|url=https://www.mammaldiversity.org/index.html|access-date=2021-07-08|website=www.mammaldiversity.org}}

In the 19th and 20th centuries, several zoological specimens were described, which are now considered subspecies:

Herpestes exilis by Paul Gervais in 1841 was a specimen from Tourane in Vietnam.{{cite journal |author1=Gervais, P. |year=1841 |title=Observations géologiques et anatomiques sur diverses espèces de Mammifères nouveaux ou peu connus |journal=Extraits des procès-verbaux des séances |volume=6 |pages=101–103 |url=https://archive.org/details/extraitsdesproc46183941soci/page/101}}
Herpestes rafflesii by John Anderson in 1875 was a specimen from Sumatra.{{cite journal |author=Anderson, J. |year=1875 |title=Description of some new Asiatic mammals and Chelonia |journal=The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology |series=4 |volume=16 |issue=94 |pages=282 285 |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsmagazineof4161875lond/page/282/mode/2up}}
Mungos rubifrons by Joel Asaph Allen in 1909 were eight adult specimens collected around Wuzhi Mountain in Hainan Island, China.{{cite journal |author=Allen, J. A. |year=1909 |title=Further notes on mammals from the Island of Hainan, China |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=26 |issue=17 |pages=239–242 |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/465//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/bul/B026a17.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}
Mungos exilis peninsulae by Ernst Schwarz in 1910 was a skin and a skull of a mongoose collected in Bangkok.{{cite journal |author=Schwarz, E. |year=1910 |title=Two new Oriental Viverridae |journal=The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology |series=8 |volume=6 |issue=32 |pages=230–232 |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsmagazineof861910lond/page/230}}
Mungos siamensis by Cecil Boden Kloss in 1917 was a skin of an adult female mongoose collected in northern Thailand.{{cite journal |author=Kloss, C. B. |year=1917 |title=On a new Mongoose from Siam |journal=The Journal of the Natural History Society of Siam |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=215–217 |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofnatural02natu/page/214/mode/2up}}
Mungos parakensis by Kloss in 1917 was a skin and a skull of an adult female mongoose from the vicinity of Taiping, Perak in Peninsular Malaysia.{{cite journal |author=Kloss, C. B. |year=1917 |title=On the mongooses of the Malay peninsula |journal=Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums |volume=7 |pages=123–125 |url=https://eurekamag.com/research/023/261/023261095.php}}
Herpestes javanicus tjerapai by Henri Jacob Victor Sody in 1949 was an adult male mongoose collected in Aceh Province, Sumatra.{{cite journal |author=Sody, H.J.V. |date=1949 |title=Notes on some Primates, Carnivora, and the Babirusa from the Indo-Malayan and Indo-Australian regions (with descriptions of 10 new species and subspecies) |journal=Treubia |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=121–190 |url=https://archive.org/details/treubia-v20i2-2624 }}

The small Indian mongoose (U. auropunctata) was once considered to be a subspecies of the Javan mongoose.{{MSW3 Wozencraft |id=14000608 |page=567–570 |heading=Species Herpestes javanicus}}

Genetic analysis of hair and tissue samples from 18 Javan and small Indian mongooses revealed that they form two clades and are distinct species. The Salween River in Myanmar is probably a barrier between the two species.{{cite journal |author1=Veron, G. |author2=Patou, M.L. |author3=Pothet, G. |author4=Simberloff, D. |author5=Jennings, A.P. |name-list-style=amp |year=2007 |title=Systematic status and biogeography of the Javan and small Indian mongooses (Herpestidae, Carnivora) |journal=Zoologica Scripta |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages= 1–10|doi=10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00261.x |s2cid=84419834 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230280673}}

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of Urva species revealed that the Javan mongoose forms a sister group with the Indian grey mongoose (U. edwardsii). The Javan mongoose probably evolved about {{mya|0.5}} in the middle Miocene.{{cite journal |author1=Patou, M. L. |author2=Mclenachan, P. A. |author3=Morley, C. G. |author4=Couloux, A. |author5=Jennings, A. P. |author6=Veron, G. |name-list-style=amp |year=2009 |title=Molecular phylogeny of the Herpestidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) with a special emphasis on the Asian Herpestes |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=69–80 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2009.05.038 |pmid=19520178 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26286265}}

Description

The Javan mongoose's fur is ferruginous to sepia and rich tawny brown on the back. It has short hairs on the ears. Its tail is tapering.

Distribution and habitat

The Javan mongoose is native to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Peninsular Malaysia and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java, where it lives up to an elevation of {{cvt|1800|m}}. Its presence is uncertain in China.

In Thailand, the Javan mongoose was photographed by camera traps in a variety of habitats, including degraded mixed deciduous forest, dry evergreen and dry dipterocarp forests, as well as in abandoned plantations and pineapple fields.{{cite journal |author1=Chutipong, W. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Tantipisanuh, N. |author3=Ngoprasert, D. |author4=Lynam, A. J. |author5=Steinmetz, R. |author6=Jenks, K.E. |author7=Grassman Jr., L.I. |author8=Tewes, M. |author9=Kitamura, S. |author10=Baker, M. C. |author11=McShea, W. |author12=Bhumpakphan, N. |author13=Sukmasuang, R. |author14=Gale, G. A. |author15=Harich, F. K. |author16=Treydte, A. C. |author17=Cutter, P. |author18=Cutter, P. B. |author19=Suwanrat, S. |author20=Siripattaranukul, K. |author21=Hala-Bala Wildlife Research Station, Wildlife Research Division |author22=Duckworth, J. W. |year=2014 |title=Current distribution and conservation status of small carnivores in Thailand: a baseline review |journal=Small Carnivore Conservation |volume=51 |pages=96–136 |url=https://smallcarnivoreconservation.com/index.php/sccg/issue/view/271/73#page=94}}

= Invasive species =

In Europe, this species has been included since 2016 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern.{{Cite web|title=List of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern - Environment - European Commission|url=https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasivealien/list/index_en.htm|access-date=2021-07-27|website=ec.europa.eu}} This means that this species cannot be imported, bred, transported, commercialized, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union.{{Cite web|title=REGULATION (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European parliament and of the council of 22 October 2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species|url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014R1143&from=EN}}

Behaviour and ecology

The Javan mongoose is mostly solitary; males sometimes form social groups and share burrows. Females are pregnant for up to 49 days and give birth to a litter of 2–5 young. Males can potentially become sexually mature at the age of 4 months.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

Javan mongooses eat mostly insects but are opportunistic feeders and will eat crabs, frogs, spiders, scorpions, snakes, small mammals, birds, and eggs.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

Threats

In Sumatra, the Javan mongoose is wild-caught for the pet trade. It was the most commonly offered species at wildlife markets in Medan during surveys between 1997 and 2001.{{cite report |author=Shepherd, C.R. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Sukumaran, J. |author3=Wich, S.A. |year=2004 |title=Open season: an analysis of the pet trade in Medan, Sumatra, 1997–2001 |location=Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia |publisher=TRAFFIC Southeast Asia |url=https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/Traf-088.pdf}} Despite being hunted heavily in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, it is commonly seen in suburban areas.