Editing Asiatic linsang

{{Short description|Genus of carnivores}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Asiatic linsang
| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Middle Miocene|Present}}
| image = Prionodontidae.jpg
| image_caption = [[Banded linsang]] (''Prionodon linsang'') and [[spotted linsang]] (''P. pardicolor'')
| grandparent_authority = [[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1864<ref name=Gray1864/>
| parent_authority = [[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1864<ref name=Gray1864/>
| taxon = Prionodon
| authority = [[Thomas Horsfield|Horsfield]], 1822<ref name=Horsfield/>
| type_species = ''[[Banded linsang|Prionodon gracilis]]''<ref>{{MSW3|id=14000368}}</ref>
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = * ''[[Prionodon linsang]]''
* ''[[Prionodon pardicolor]]''
| range_map = Prionodon map.jpg
}}

The '''Asiatic linsang''' ('''''Prionodon''''') is a [[genus]] comprising two [[species]] native to [[Southeast Asia]]: the [[banded linsang]] (''Prionodon linsang'') and the [[spotted linsang]] (''Prionodon pardicolor'').<ref name=Pocock1939>{{cite book |author=Pocock, R. I. |year=1939 |title=The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma |volume=Mammalia. – Volume 1 |location=London |publisher=Taylor and Francis |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/PocockMammalia1/pocock1#page/n415/mode/2up |chapter=Genus ''Prionodon'' Horsfield |pages=334–342}}</ref><ref name=msw3>{{MSW3 Wozencraft |id=14000368 |page=553 |heading=Genus ''Prionodon''}}</ref> ''Prionodon'' is considered a [[sister taxon]] of the [[Felidae]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Barycka, E. |year=2007 |title=Evolution and systematics of the feliform Carnivora |journal=Mammalian Biology |volume=72 |issue=5 |pages=257–282 |doi=10.1016/j.mambio.2006.10.011 }}</ref>

==Characteristics==
The coat pattern of the Asiatic linsang is distinct, consisting of large spots that sometimes coalesce into broad bands on the sides of the body; the tail is banded transversely. It is small in size with a head and body length ranging from {{cvt|14.4|to|16.75|in|cm|order=flip}} and a {{cvt|12|to|16|in|cm|order=flip}} long tail. The tail is nearly as long as the head and body, and about five or six times as long as the hind foot. The head is elongated with a narrow muzzle, [[rhinarium]] evenly convex above, with wide internarial [[septum]], shallow infranarial portion, and [[philtrum]] narrow and grooved, the groove extending only about to the level of the lower edge of the nostrils. The delicate skull is long, low, and narrow with a well defined [[Occiput|occipital]] and a strong crest, but there is no complete [[sagittal crest]]. The teeth also are more highly specialized, and show an approach to those of Felidae, although more primitive. The dental formula is {{DentalFormula|upper=3.1.4.1|lower=3.1.4.2}}. The [[incisor]]s form a transverse, not a curved, line; the first three upper and the four lower pre-[[Molar (tooth)|molar]]s are compressed and trenchant with a high, sharp, median [[Cusp (dentistry)|cusp]] and small subsidiary cusps in front and behind it. The upper [[carnassial]] has a small inner lobe set far forwards, a small cusp in front of the main compressed, high, pointed cusp, and a compressed, blade-like posterior cusp; the upper molar is triangular, transversely set, much smaller than the upper carnassial, and much wider than it is long, so that the upper carnassial is nearly at the posterior end of the upper cheek-teeth as in Felidae.<ref name=Pocock1939/>

==Systematics==
{|class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align:left;" |Family Prionodontidae
|-
! Genus !! Image !! Species
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;|''Prionodon''
|[[File:Prionodon_linsang_-_Museo_Civico_di_Storia_Naturale_Giacomo_Doria_-_Genoa,_Italy_-_DSC02704.JPG|175px]]
||[[Banded linsang]] (''P. linsang'') {{small|Hardwicke, 1821}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|[[File:Prionodon_pardicolor_-_Kunming_Natural_History_Museum_of_Zoology_-_DSC02486.JPG|175px]]
||[[Spotted linsang]] (''P. pardicolor'') {{small|Hodgson, 1842}}
|}

===Taxonomic history===
====With Viverridae (morphological)====
''Prionodon'' was denominated and first described by [[Thomas Horsfield]] in 1822, based on a linsang from [[Java (island)|Java]]. He had placed the linsang under "section '''Prionodontidae"''' of the genus ''[[Felis]]'', because of similarities to both genera ''[[Viverra]]'' and ''Felis''.<ref name=Horsfield>Horsfield, T. (1822). [https://archive.org/stream/zoologicalresear00hors/zoologicalresear00hors#page/n195/mode/1up ''Illustration of'' Felis gracilis] in [https://archive.org/stream/zoologicalresear00hors/zoologicalresear00hors#page/n174/mode/1up ''Zoological researches in Java, and the neighboring islands'']. Kingsbury, Parbury and Allen, London.</ref> In 1864, [[John Edward Gray]] placed the genera ''Prionodon'' and ''[[Poiana (genus)|Poiana]]'' in the tribe '''Prionodontina''', as part of [[Viverridae]].<ref name=Gray1864>Gray, J. E. (1864). [https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofgen64zool#page/518/mode/2up ''A revision of the genera and species of viverrine animals (Viverridae), founded on the collection in the British Museum'']. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for the year 1864: 502–579.</ref> [[Reginald Innes Pocock]] initially followed Gray's classification, but the existence of [[scent gland]]s in ''Poiana'' induced him provisionally to regard the latter as a specialized form of ''[[Genetta]]'', its likeness to ''Prionodon'' being possibly adaptive.<ref name="Pocock1939"/> Furthermore, the skeletal anatomy of Asiatic linsangs are said to be a mosaic of features of other viverrine-like mammals, as linsangs share cranial, postcranial and dental similarities with [[Eupleres|falanouc]]s, [[African palm civet]], and [[Poiana (genus)|oyan]]s respectively.<ref name="HMW2009">{{cite book | last1 = Gaubert | first1 = P. | year = 2009 | chapter = Family Prionodontidae (Linsangs) | editor1-last = Wilson | editor1-first = D.E.| editor2-last = Mittermeier | editor2-first = R.A. | title = Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 1 | publisher = Lynx Ediciones | location=Barcelona | pages =170–173 | isbn = 978-84-96553-49-1}}</ref>

====With Felidae (molecular)====
[[DNA analysis]] based on 29 species of [[Carnivora]], comprising 13 species of [[Viverrinae]] and three species representing ''[[Paradoxurus]]'', ''[[Paguma]]'' and [[Hemigalinae]], confirmed Pocock's assumption that the African linsang ''Poiana'' represents the sister-group of the genus ''Genetta''. The placement of ''Prionodon'' as the sister-group of the family [[Felidae]] is strongly supported, and it was proposed that the Asiatic linsangs be placed in the [[monogeneric]] family Prionodontidae.<ref name="rspb2003">Gaubert, P. and Veron, G. (2003). [http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/270/1532/2523.full.pdf "Exhaustive sample set among Viverridae reveals the sister-group of felids: the linsangs as a case of extreme morphological convergence within Feliformia"]. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B, 270 (1532): 2523–2530. {{doi|10.1098/rspb.2003.2521}}</ref> There is a physical [[synapomorphy]] shared between felids and ''Prionodon'' in the presence of the specialized fused sacral vertebrae.<ref name="HMW2009"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Carnivora|P.}}
{{Feliformia|Fel.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q847194|from2=Q11757624|from3=Q17465087}}
[[Category:Mammals of Asia]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Thomas Horsfield]]
[[Category:Feliforms]]
[[Category:Mammals described in 1822]]