Moschiola
Genus of mammals
Moschiola, the spotted chevrotains, are a genus of small even-toed ungulates in the family Tragulidae. They are found in forests in India, Sri Lanka and perhaps Nepal, and have pale-spotted or -striped upperparts unlike the other Asian members of the family, the mouse-deer of the genus Tragulus.
In former times, the genus was usually treated as monotypic. Described as Moschus meminna, for most of the time the name Tragulus meminna was used, but changed to Moschiola meminna eventually. In the 21st century, this is increasingly divided into up to three parapatric species:
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| M. meminna sensu stricto | Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain | drier parts of Sri Lanka | |
| M. indica | Indian spotted chevrotain | South Asian mainland north to Nepal | |
| M. kathygre | Yellow-striped chevrotain | humid parts of Sri Lanka |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Moschiola”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Moschiola meminna.jpg by W T Blanford, Public domain
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