Subfamily Herpestinae Bonaparte, 1845 . Cat. Meth. Mamm. Europe, p. 3.

COMMENTS: Type genus: Herpestes liliger, 1811 (Melville and Smith, 1987). Thomas (1882) proposed a separate monotypic subfamily (Surcatinae) for Suricata . Wozencraft (1989b) placed Crossarchus, Cynictis, Dologale, Helogale, Liberiictis, Mungos, Paracynictis, and Suricata in the Mungotinae but gave no supporting rationale. Fredga's (1972) analysis of chromosomes would support Wozencraft's Mungotinae (with the inclusion of Bdeogale and Ichneumia). The phylogenetic analysis of allozyme data by Taylor et al. (1991) also supported Cynictis, Suricata, and Helogale as a monophyletic group.