Taxa

Herpestes

Genus

Citation Formats

General Reference

Nature Atlas. "Herpestes." Accessed September 8, 2026. https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/genus-herpestes.

APA Style

Nature Atlas. (n.d.). Herpestes. Retrieved September 8, 2026, from https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/genus-herpestes

BibTeX

@misc{natureatlas-herpestes,
  author = {Nature Atlas},
  title = {Herpestes},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/genus-herpestes},
  note = {Accessed September 8, 2026}
}

Herpestes is a genus within the mongoose family Herpestidae and the type genus of the family. It comprises five living species, the Egyptian mongoose, common slender mongoose, Cape gray mongoose, Somalian slender mongoose and Angolan slender mongoose, found across Africa and Asia, each with several subspecies. Herpestes mongooses show sexual dimorphism, with males larger than females, weigh between 0.6 and 3.6 kilograms, and share tooth and ear bone features that distinguish the genus. Fossil Herpestes species date to the Late Oligocene, with the oldest described from France in 1853.

Sources

Herpestes (Wikipedia)

Introduction

Quote, Introduction

Herpestes is a genus within the mongoose family Herpestidae.

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