Felis nigripes Burchell, 1824, commonly called the black-footed cat, is the smallest felid in Africa. F. nigripes is a pale tawny cat with dark markings and prominent horizontal stripes on the limbs. It is distributed in the central part of South Africa and mainly occurs in open country often near brush cover. F. nigripes is listed on Appendix I of the Convention for the International Trade of ...

Photographic evidence of the Large-toothed Ferret Badger Melogale personata I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (Carnivora: Musteliade) in Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

A data set of complete mitochondrial cytochrome b and 12S rDNA sequences is presented here for 17 representatives of Artiodactyla and Cetacea, together with potential outgroups (two Perissodactyla, two Carnivora, two Tethytheria, four Rodentia, and two Marsupialia). We include seven sequences not previously published from Hippopotamidae (Ancodonta) and Camelidae (Tylopoda), yielding a total of ...

The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula Ellis) captures insects with one of the most rapid movements in the plant kingdom. We investigated trap closure by mechanical and electrical stimuli using the novel charge-injection method and high-speed recording. We proposed a new hydroelastic curvature mechanism, which is based on the assumption that the lobes possess curvature elasticity and are composed...

Photographic evidence of the Spotted linsang Prionodon pardicolor (Mammalia: Carnivora: Prionodontidae) from Tashigang Forest Division, Eastern Bhutan

Panthera pardus (leopard; Linnaeus, 1758) is the smallest of the 4 large felids in the genus Panthera. A solitary and adaptable species, P. pardus is the widest ranging of all wild felids, inhabiting rain forests, mountains, semiarid environments, and suburban areas throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia to the Russian Far East. Despite this distribution, P. pardus is li...

Authoritative anatomical references depict domestic dogs and cats as having a malleus with a short rostral (anterior) process that is connected via a ligament to the ectotympanic of the auditory bulla. Similar mallei have been reported for representatives of each of the 15 extant families of Carnivora, the placental order containing dogs and cats. This morphology is in contrast to a malleus wit...

Studies of basal metabolic rate (BMR), the minimum metabolic rate of postabsorptive, inactive endotherms while in their rest phase and thermal neutral zone, have contributed significantly to our understanding of animal energetics. Besides body mass, the main determinant of BMR, researchers have invoked diet and phylogenetic history as important factors that influence BMR, although their relativ...

Lycalopex vetulus (Lund, 1842), commonly called the hoary fox, is Brazil’s smallest canid. It has a slender body and limbs and a small skull composed of relative fragile bones. Its size and skull characteristics combined with its peculiar dentition make it more suitable for an insectivorous diet rather than one of large vertebrates. L. vetulus is endemic to Brazil and occurs primarily in the so...