Ictonyx Kaup, 1835

W. Christopher Wozencraft, 1993, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 279-348 : 318-319

Ictonyx Kaup, 1835 . Das Thierreich in Seinen Hauptformen, 1:352.

TYPE SPECIES: Ictonyx capensis Kaup, 1835 (= Bradypus striatus Perry, 1810 ) ( Melville and Smith, 1987).

SYNONYMS: Ictidonyx Agassiz, 1846 ; Ictomys Roberts, 1936 ; Poecilictis Thomas and Hinton, 1920 ; Rhabdogale Wiegmann, 1838 ; Zorilla I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1826.

COMMENTS: There is considerable controversy over the correct name for this genus (Herschkovitz, 1955b; Van Gelder, 1966). Zorilla Oken, 1816, is invalid ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1956b). Zorilla Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1826, was suppressed under the plenary powers for the purposes of the Principle of Priority ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1967). Rosevear (1974) strongly suggested, and Dekeyser (1955) and Niethammer (1987a) argued that Poecilictis Thomas and Hinton, 1920 , and Ictonyx are congeneric. The principal skull features used to erect the new genus by Thomas and Hinton (1920) could not be supported when a more extensive series of specimens was measured ( Rosevear, 1974).