Eupleridae
Eupleridae is a family of carnivorous mammals found only in Madagascar. Its members include the fossa, falanoucs, and Malagasy mongooses.
Carnivora: Carnivora is the mammalian order that includes cats, dogs, bears, seals, and their relatives. Eupleridae belongs to this order, despite its members’ varied appearances.
Fossa: The fossa is Madagascar’s largest native carnivore, a catlike predator that hunts lemurs and other animals. It is the family’s largest member and a leading predator of living lemurs.
Madagascar: Madagascar is a large island nation in the Indian Ocean, separated from Africa by the Mozambique Channel. The family’s endemic range is shaped by the island’s long geographic isolation.
Herpestidae: Herpestidae is the family of mongooses native to Africa and Asia, separate from Madagascar’s euplerids. Euplerids were once grouped with mongooses, but genetic evidence places them in their own family.
Feliformia: Feliformia is a suborder of Carnivora containing cats, hyenas, mongooses, and related mammals. Genetic evidence places euplerids among the cat-like carnivorans.
Falanouc: A falanouc is a small, nocturnal Malagasy carnivore that feeds mainly on earthworms and other invertebrates. Its specialized diet contrasts with the family’s more familiar vertebrate hunters.
Madagascar–Africa separation: Madagascar–Africa separation was the geological process that left Madagascar isolated from mainland Africa. The island’s separation predates the arrival of the ancestors of living euplerids.
Viverridae: Viverridae is a family of mostly tropical carnivorous mammals that includes civets and genets. Some euplerids were historically classified with civets because of superficial similarities.
Malagasy carnivore radiation: The Malagasy carnivore radiation is the diversification of one ancestral carnivore lineage into Madagascar’s living native carnivores. Eupleridae comprises the descendants of this island-wide evolutionary radiation.
Malagasy mongoose: A Malagasy mongoose is a member of the euplerid subfamily Galidiinae, a group of small carnivores native to Madagascar. These species make up much of the family’s diversity and occupy varied habitats.