Euplerinae, more commonly known as Malagasy civets, is a subfamily of carnivorans that includes four species restricted to Madagascar. Together with the subfamily Galidiinae, which also only occurs on Madagascar, it forms the family Eupleridae. Members of this subfamily, which include the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox), falanoucs (Eupleres goudotii and Eupleres major) and Malagasy civet (Fossa fossana), were placed in families like Felidae and Viverridae before genetic data indicated their consanguinity with other Madagascar carnivorans. Within the subfamily, the falanouc and Malagasy civet are more closely related to each other than to the fossa.

Classification

Subfamily Euplerinae
GenusSpeciesImage
Cryptoprocta (Bennett, 1833)Fossa (C. ferox) Giant fossa (C. spelea)
Eupleres (Doyère, 1835)Eastern falanouc (E. goudotii) Western falanouc (E. major)
Fossa (Gray, 1864)Malagasy civet (F. fossana)

Phylogenetic tree

The phylogenetic relationships of Malagasy civets (Euplerinae) are shown in the following cladogram:

EuplerinaeEupleres Eupleres major (Western falanouc) Eupleres goudotii (Eastern falanouc) Cryptoprocta Cryptoprocta ferox (Fossa) †Cryptoprocta spelea (Giant fossa) Fossa Fossa fossana (Malagasy civet)
EupleresEupleres major (Western falanouc) Eupleres goudotii (Eastern falanouc)
Eupleres major (Western falanouc)
Eupleres goudotii (Eastern falanouc)
Cryptoprocta Cryptoprocta ferox (Fossa) †Cryptoprocta spelea (Giant fossa) Fossa Fossa fossana (Malagasy civet)
CryptoproctaCryptoprocta ferox (Fossa) †Cryptoprocta spelea (Giant fossa)
Cryptoprocta ferox (Fossa)
Cryptoprocta spelea (Giant fossa)
FossaFossa fossana (Malagasy civet)

See also