Galidictis

Galidictis
Grandidier's mongoose (Galidictis grandidieri)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Eupleridae
Subfamily:	Galidiinae
Genus:	Galidictis I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1839
Type species
Mustela striata I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1837
Species
Galidictis fasciata Galidictis grandidieri
Galidictis ranges

Galidictis is a genus in the subfamily Galidiinae of the family Eupleridae: a group of carnivorans that are endemic to Madagascar. ^[1]

The name is from two ancient Greek words that both approximately mean ‘weasel’: galid- (see Galidia ) and iktis . ^[2] Compare the word Galictis (grison, a closer relative of the weasel).

It contains the following two species and two subspecies: ^[1]

Image	Scientific name	Subspecies	Common name	Distribution
	Galidictis fasciata	Galidictis fasciata fasciata Galidictis fasciata striatus	Broad-striped Malagasy mongoose	Madagascar
	Galidictis grandidieri		Grandidier's mongoose	Madagascar

References

1. Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. "Galidictis". ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
2. Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary attributes it to "NL, fr. Gk galideus young weasel + iktis yellow-breasted marten [an ambiguous common name that might be the weasel]." However, Lewis and Short describes ictis (ἴκτις) as simply "a kind of weasel". Archived 2013-11-02 at the Wayback Machine Brill's New Pauly likewise also writes that "ἴκτις/íktis may be a weasel".