Arctonyx, F. CUVIER, 1825

Helgen, Kristofer M., Lim, Norman T-L. & Helgen, Lauren E., 2008, The hog-badger is not an edentate: systematics and evolution of the genus Arctonyx (Mammalia: Mustelidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 154 (2), pp. 353-385 : 361

GENUS ARCTONYX F. CUVIER, 1825

Type species: Arctonyx collaris F. Cuvier, 1825 .

Synonymy: Arctonyx F. Cuvier, 1825 (type species A collaris F. Cuvier, 1825 ).

Arctonix Geoffroy and F. Cuvier, 1842 (misspelling of Arctonyx F. Cuvier , in index).

Trichomanis Hubrecht, 1891 (type species T. hoevenii Hubrecht, 1891 ).

Syarctus Gloger, 1841 (renaming of Arctonyx F. Cuvier ).

Synarchus Gray, 1865 (misspelling of Syarctus Gloger ).

Diagnosis: The species of Arctonyx are medium- to large-bodied badgers that superficially resemble species of the closely related genus Meles ( Allen, 1929, 1938; Pocock, 1941). Externally, Arctonyx can be distinguished from Meles by its naked, distinctively hoglike snout; its pale (rather than black) throat; its pale (rather than dark) front claws; and by the morphology of the subcaudal anal sac, which is situated dorsad to the anus (as opposed to Meles , in which the subcaudal anal sac incorporates the anus; Pocock, 1941: 420). The skulls of Arctonyx and Meles are very different ( Fig. 8 ). Relative to Meles , Arctonyx skulls have (among many other differences) markedly flattened auditory bullae; a more elongate, dorso-ventrally compressed, and much narrowed rostrum; proportionally smaller and more widely spaced cheekteeth; a more strongly curved upper incisor arcade; a notched (as opposed to simply U- or V-shaped) posterior postdental palate (formed by the pterygoid bones) that extends further behind the dental arcade, essentially reaching the auditory bullae; and a reduced angular process of the mandible, which is raised above the level of the mandibular toothrow. On the basis of the close genetic relationship between Arctonyx and Meles, Marmi, López-Giráldez & Dominga-Roura (2004) recently suggested that the two could be regarded as congeneric, but the trenchant external and cranial traits that distinguish these two classically recognized genera argue for their continued distinction at the generic level (see also Bininda- Emonds, Gittleman & Purvis, 1999), especially now that both genera are no longer regarded as monotypic (see below).

Distribution: The modern and fossil distribution of Arctonyx is restricted to East and Southeast Asia, incorporating most of China, the eastern Indian Subcontinent and Indochina, as far south as the Isthmus of Kra; an outlying population occurs on the Sunda Shelf in the mountains of Sumatra (see below).

Relationships: Amongst extant mustelids, Meles and Arctonyx are sister taxa, now generally regarded as the only two component genera of the mustelid subfamily Melinae ( Marmi et al., 2004, 2006; Sato et al., 2004; see below). Incorporating fossil taxa, Arctonyx is considered to be the sister lineage to the extinct (Pliocene) Holarctic genus Arctomeles ( Petter, 1971; Tedford & Harington, 2003). The close relationship between the Holarctic genus Arctomeles , the temperate Old World genus Meles and the temperate to tropical Old World genus Arctonyx provides a strong indication that the occurrence of Arctonyx in the tropics is a comparatively novel development in the historical biogeography of meline badgers.

Content: We recognize three extant species of Arctonyx – A. collaris F. Cuvier, 1825 ; A. hoevenii ( Hubrecht, 1891) ; and A. albogularis ( Blyth, 1853) – as diagnosed and discussed below.

Figures

Figure 8. Representative skulls of Arctonyx (left, A. hoevenii, USNM 269073, adult female, from Atjeh, Sumatra) and Meles (right, M. meles, AMNH 88698, adult male, from Gouladah, Iran), of similar absolute size. Scale bar = 20 mm.