Editing Asian small-clawed otter (section)

== Taxonomy ==
''Lutra cinerea'' was the [[scientific name]] proposed by [[Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger]] in 1815 for an otter collected in [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Illiger |first1=C. |year=1815 |title=Überblick der Säugethiere nach ihrer Verteilung über die Welttheile |journal=Abhandlungen der Königlichen Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin |volume=1804−1811 |pages=39−159 |url=http://bibliothek.bbaw.de/bbaw/bibliothek-digital/digitalequellen/schriften/anzeige/index_html?band=07-abh/18041811&seite:int=196 |access-date=12 June 2020 |archive-date=4 April 2019 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404162507/http://bibliothek.bbaw.de/bbaw/bibliothek-digital/digitalequellen/schriften/anzeige/index_html?band=07-abh%2F18041811&seite%3Aint=196}}</ref> In the 19th and 20th centuries, several [[zoological specimen]]s were described:
*''Lutra concolor'' proposed by [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]] in 1832 was a uniform coloured otter from [[Assam]]. Rafinesque also proposed ''Amblonyx'' as name for a subgenus for otters with short, obtuse claws.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rafinesque |first1=C. S. |year=1832 |title=Atlantic journal, and friend of knowledge in eight numbers : containing about 160 original articles and tracts on natural and historical sciences, the description of about 150 new plants, and 100 new animals or fossils ; many vocabularies of languages, historical and geological facts |location=Philadelphia |page=62 |chapter=Description of a New Otter, ''Lutra concolor'', from Assam in India |isbn=9780665414664 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_41466/page/n68}}</ref>
*''Lutra leptonyx'' proposed by [[Thomas Horsfield]] in 1824 were two adult small-clawed otters collected in [[Java]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Horsfield |first1=T. |year=1824 |title=Zoological researches in Java, and the neighbouring islands |location=London |publisher=Kingsbury, Parbury & Allen |pages=185–191 |chapter=''Lutra leptonyx'' |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/Zoologicalresea00Hors/page/n183}}</ref> It was subordinated to the genus ''[[Aonyx]]'' by [[John Edward Gray]] in 1843.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=J. E. |year=1843 |title=List of the specimens of Mammalia in the collection of the British Museum |page=71 |chapter=The Wargul. ''Aonyx leptonyx'' |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/listofspecimenso00brit_0/page/201}}</ref>
*''Amblonyx cinerea nirnai'' proposed by [[Reginald Innes Pocock]] in 1940 was a dark brown small-clawed otter from [[Virajpet]] in South India.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pocock |first1=R. I. |year=1940 |title=Notes on Some British Indian Otters, with Description of two new Subspecies |journal=The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=41 |issue=3–4 |pages=514–517 |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofbomb41341940bomb/page/514}}</ref>

=== Phylogeny ===
Results of a mitochondrial [[cytochrome B]] analysis published in 1998 indicated that it should be subordinated to the genus ''Aonyx''.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Koepfli, K.-P. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Wayne, R. K. |year=1998 |title=Phylogenetic relationships of otters (Carnivora: Mustelidae) based on mitochondrial cytochrome B sequences |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=246 |issue=4 |pages=401–416 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1998.tb00172.x |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231880788}}</ref> Results of a molecular study published in 2008 showed that the Asian small-clawed otter is a [[sister taxon]] of ''[[Lutrogale]]'', lending support to retaining the genus ''Amblonyx'' or expanding ''Aonyx'' to make it [[monophyletic]]. They [[Genetic divergence|genetically diverged]] about {{mya|1.5}}.<ref name=Koepfli_al2008>{{cite journal |author1=Koepfli, K.P. |author2=Kanchanasaka, B. |author3=Sasaki, H. |author4=Jacques, H. |author5=Louie, K.D.Y. |author6=Hoai, T. |author7=Dang, N.X.  |author8=Geffen, E. |author9=Gutleb, A. |author10=Han, S. |author11=Heggberget, T. M. |author12=LaFontaine, L. |author13=Lee, H. |author14=Melisch, R. |author15=Ruiz-Olmo, J. |author16=Santos-Reis, M. |author17=Sidorovich, V.E. |author18=Stubbe, M. |author19=Wayne, R.K. |name-list-style=amp |year=2008 |title=Establishing the foundation for an applied molecular taxonomy of otters in Southeast Asia |journal=Conservation Genetics |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=1589–1604 |doi=10.1007/s10592-007-9498-5 |bibcode=2008ConG....9.1589K |s2cid=24619297 |url=http://www.tau.ac.il/~geffene/PDFs/64-Conserv_Genet_2008.pdf}}</ref>

The Asian small-clawed otter groups with the [[African clawless otter]] (''Aonyx capensis'') and the [[smooth-coated otter]] (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') into a [[sister clade]] with the genus ''[[Lutra]]''. [[Hybridisation (biology)|Hybridisation]] of Asian small-clawed otter females with smooth-coated otter males occurred in [[Singapore]]. The resulting offspring and their descendants bred back into the smooth-coated otter population, but maintained the genes of their small-clawed otter ancestors; a population of at least 60 hybrid otters are present in Singapore as of 2016.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Moretti, B. |author2=Al-Sheikhly, O. F. |author3=Guerrini, M. |author4=Theng, M. |author5=Gupta, B. K. |author6=Haba, M. K. |author7=Khan, W. A. |author8=Khan, A. A.  |name-list-style=amp |author9=Barbanera, F. |title=Phylogeography of the smooth-coated otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata''): distinct evolutionary lineages and hybridization with the Asian small-clawed otter (''Aonyx cinereus'') |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=7 |page=41611 |year=2017 |doi=10.1038/srep41611 |pmid=28128366 |pmc=5269716 |bibcode=2017NatSR...741611M}}</ref>