Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain

Moschiola meminna redirects here. Before the 21st century, this usually referred to any species of Moschiola.
Moschiola meminna
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Tragulidae
Genus: Moschiola
Species: M. meminna
Binomial name
Moschiola meminna
(Erxleben, 1777)
Synonyms

Moschus meminna Erxleben, 1777
Tragulus meminna (Erxleben, 1777)

Moschiola meminna is a species of even-toed ungulate in the chevrotain family (Tragulidae). Particularly in the old literature, M. meminna often refers to the spotted chevrotains as a whole. Today, the name is increasingly restricted to the Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain or white-spotted chevrotain, with the Indian spotted chevrotain M. indica[2] and/or the yellow-striped chevrotain M. kathygre treated as distinct species. Known as ශ්‍රී ලංකා සුදු තිත් මීමින්නා in Sinhala.

In Sri Lanka, this species is found in the dry zone and is replaced in the wet zone by the yellow-striped chevrotain.[3]

Description

Head and body length is 55–60 cm. Dull dirt-brown in color with 3-4 dotted white stripes going longitudinally along flak

References

  1. Duckworth, J.W. & Timmins, R.J. (2008). "Moschiola meminna". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2008. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 6 November 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.
  2. IUCN Redlist
  3. Groves, C. & Meijaard, E. (2005) Intraspecific variation in Moschiola, the Indian Chevrotain. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Supplement 12:413-421 PDF


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