Moschiola

Moschiola, the spotted chevrotains, are a genus of small even-toed ungulates in the family Tragulidae. They are found in forests in India, Sri Lanka and perhaps Nepal, and have pale-spotted or -striped upperparts unlike the other Asian members of the family, the mouse-deer of the genus Tragulus.[1]

Moschiola
"Tragulus meminna"
from the Fauna of British India
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Tragulidae
Genus: Moschiola
Gray, 1852

In former times, the genus was usually treated as monotypic. Described as Moschus meminna, for most of the time the name Tragulus meminna was used, but changed to Moschiola meminna eventually. In the 21st century, this is increasingly divided into up to three parapatric species:[2]

ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
M. meminna sensu strictoSri Lankan spotted chevrotaindrier parts of Sri Lanka
M. indicaIndian spotted chevrotainSouth Asian mainland north to Nepal
M. kathygreYellow-striped chevrotainhumid parts of Sri Lanka

References

  1. Nowak, R. M. (eds) (1999). Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press.
  2. Groves, C. & Meijaard, E. (2005) Intraspecific variation in Moschiola, the Indian Chevrotain. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Supplement 12:413-421 PDF Archived 2008-07-27 at the Wayback Machine


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