© Biodiversity Heritage Library, http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.zoologicalbulletin.de; www.biologiezentrum.at

Bonn. zool. Beitr.

H.

Bd. 41S.

1

3—8

Bonn, März 1990

Small Indian mongoose Herpestes auropunctatus(Hodgson, 1836) on the Adriatic Islands of Yugoslavia
Nikola Tvrtkovic & Boris Krystufek

Abstract. Seven mongooses from three Adriatic islands of Yugoslavia were examined.
They were shown to belong to Herpestes auropunctatus. The history of their introduction
since 1910, present distribution and biological remarks are given. The Adriatic populationof H. auropunctatus is the only one of its kind in Europe.

Key words. Mammalia,

Viverridae,

Herpestes auropunctatus, Yugoslavia,

identity,

distribution, status.

Introduction

Two species of mongooses, genus Herpestes, are reported for Europe in the current
literature. H. ichneumon is a native of Spain and Portugal (Miller 1912; Niethammer
1963; Corbet 1978) while H. edwardsi was introduced to Italy around 1960 (Toschi
1965; Corbet
at the& Ovenden 1980). The identity of mongooses introduced to Dalmatia

beginning of the century remains unclear. They are found under different

names in the literature: Mungos mungo (Anonymous 1927, 1959; Fink 1960), Mungo
mungo (Dubac 1961; Maricic-Brusina 1964), and Herpestes mungo or H. griseus(Hirtz 1927 a, 1927 b). In the more recent mammalogical papers they are reported as
H. ichneumon (Van den Brink 1957; Niethammer 1963; Miric 1970; Corbet 1978;
Corbet & Ovenden 1980; Osborn & Helmy 1980; Görner & Hacketal 1987) or
edwardsi (Djuhc and Tortic 1960
with a question mark; Toschi 1965; Van den Brink
auropunctatus. The aim of the pre1972). Only Tvrtkovic (1982) ascribed them tosent article is to clarify the identity of mongooses introduced to Adriatic islands andbriefly elaborate the history of introduction and actual distribution.

H

—

H

Material and Methods

We examined 7 mongooses from three Adriatic islands. The material is stored in the Croatian
Natural History Museum (HPM) and Natural History Museum of Slovenia (PMS). Comparative material of Herpestes auropunctatus, H. edwardsi, H. sanguineus, H. Javanicus, andH. pulverulentulus was examined in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NMW). Skullmeasurements published by Harrison (1968) and Osborn & Helmy (1980) were used for comparison.

External measurements were recorded from the specimen labels. Cranial measurements
were taken by a dial caliper to the nearest 0.1 mm. The definitions and symbols of thehindmeasurements were a follows: HE
tail length; HF
head and body length; TL
foot length; E
inzygomatic breadth; IC
ear length; CB
condylobasal length; ZB
terorbital constriction; BB
maxillarybraincase breadth;mandible length;
tooth row length. Measurements are given in mm.

—

—

—

—

ML —

—

—

MTR —

—
—

2

5

S

S

S

© Biodiversity Heritage Library, http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.zoologicalbulletin.de; www.biologiezentrum.at

N. T\Ttko\"ic

4& B. Krystufek

HPM 1081.

Specimens examined: Yugoslavia:
1603, 1 5
Mljet Is., June 1950;

HPM
1985; HPM 1785,,

HPM

cr, Mljet Is.. Julv 1959:
1
1602. 1 sex?,
Mljet Is., 1959;
1784, 1 c, Lumbarda, Korcula

HPM

15, Lumbarda, Korcula Is., January 11, 1985; HPM
1,
Hvar Is., March 4, 1988; PMS 5437, 1 c^, Blato, Korcula Is., April 12, 1987.
Comparati^'e material of H. auTopunctarus: NM\\' B 2204, 1 juv., Islamabad, Kashmir, In-Is.,

January

1786,

c

1

.

NMW 1173, 1886, B 5197,

NMW

dia, 1867;
22171, 1 cr, Baghdad, Iraq, August 1910;
no locality (Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Wien), from 1897 to 1939.

o-,3

Results and Discussion
Identity of mongooses from the Adriatic Islands

The examined mongooses from the islands of Mljet, Korcula and Hvar belong toa smaller species of the genus Herpestes. The colour and shape of the tail, the dimensions and shape of the skull, bullae tympani in particular (Fig. 1), revealed nosimilarity either to H.

ichneumon or H. edwardsi. On the basis of the dimensions(Table 1) our material appeared identical with thetatiis.

NMW specimens of H. aiiropimc-

In addition, our specimens could not be identified with any of the 14 speciesof the genus Herpestes listed by Corbet & Hill (1980) except with awopuncranis. Thisin accordance with recently discovered data in an official account (only an official
copy is preserved) in the Archives of Croatia, Zagreb. According to this Z. Levicnik
from Zadar on October 19th, 1913 reported an introduction of ''Cherpesfsjes

ispaUi(dii)s",now (Corbet 1978) Herpestes auropiinctatus pallipes (Bl^ih 1845),

i.

e.

a

species otherwise distributed in Afghanistan and western India.

External and skull measurements in mm of Herpestes auropunctatus in Yugoslavia
and Harrison (1968). See text for abbreviations.
compared to specimens from

Table 1

:

NMW

HE

TL

HF

E

CB

ZB

IC

BB

ML

MTR

24.3

3-.O

22.0

23.9

40.6

22.6

HPM lOSl
HPM 1602
HPM 1603
HPM 1"84
HPM 1"85
HPM 1"86Mliei Is.. Yugosla^ia

61."

31.6

10."

Mljei Is., Yugosla^-ia

5S.9

28.

9.9

63.1

31.6

10."

30.1

10.6

2S.6

10.0

PMS 543"

11.4

Mljet Is., Yugoslavia

390

210

48

20

Korcula Is., Yugoslavia

291

261

48

26

Korcula Is.. Yugoslavia

241

45

24

Hvar Is., Yugoslavia

272
28"

234

45

Korcula Is.. Yugoslavia

315

250

51

B2204 Islamabad, Pakistan
N^nV 21171 Bagdad, Iraq
N>r\V 1173 no exact locality
NM^V 1886 no exact locality
B5197 no exact locality

59.0

21.4

62.2

39.2

21.6

21.5

38.4

22.1

24.4

40.1

22.0

38.4

11.2

260

220

NMW

320

240

Harrison 1968 Iraq

298

Harrison 1968 Iraq

2 "4Harrison 1968 Iraq
Harrison 1968 Iraq

283.5

269

Harrison 1968 Iraq

245

4'

21

58.2

2".l

10.2

62.9
60."

31.4

11.5

22.1

42.0
39.-

12.4

23.6

44.2

21.

3S.4

22.4

56

24"

51.6

24.3

60.8

29.6

10.4

23".

49.3

58.8

28.3

10.5

22". 1

58.6

28.8

10

20.9

36

21.3

221

45.6
43."

23

9.8

20.3

34.2

20. S

220

45.8

19.8

20.3

64.9

">~

>

21.

Harrison 1968 Iraq

54.8

25.9

11.

20.5

34

Harrison 1968 no exact locality

60.6

31

11.2

21.

3S.2

Harrison 1968 no exact locality

22.1

1"

© Biodiversity Heritage Library, http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.zoologicalbulletin.de; www.biologiezentrum.at

Small Indian mongoose in Yugoslavia

Fig.

1:

5

Skull of Herpestes auropunctatus (adult male) from Korcula island, Yugoslavia.

History of introduction and biological remarks

Due to a large number of horned vipers {Vipera ammodytes) populating the Islandof Mljet it was known as the "island of snakes" at the beginning of the century. To
exterminate the said venomous snakes, the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal

Ministry of Agriculture purchased 12 mongooses in 1910. The first approximate dataon the introduction were published by Banicevic (1926, 1927), a parish priest from
Korcula Is. The mongooses were discussed at the same time in a popular Croatianmagazine "Priroda" by Tiozzo (1927) and Petkovic (1927); their data, however, differ
from those of Banicevic (1927). Thus, until a recent search through the official filesof the Austro-Hungarian authorities kept in the Archives of Croatia at Zagreb referring to the period between 1910 and 1916, no reliable details were known as to theorigin of mongooses, the number of specimens introduced, and time when they werefirst brought to Mljet Is. The examined official papers include a pedantic report on
the transportation of the animals to the islands, their food and health condition, as
well as observations of the animals on their release and measures taken to ensure an
undisturbed growth of the population.
The mongooses purchased in India were shipped to Trieste and then transported
to the town of Korcula (Korcula Is.) on July 13th, 1910. They were taken over by
Karl Najedly, a senior forestry inspector, who was made personally responsible for
their introduction. After a period of quarantine and acclimatization during which
they were under constant veterinary control, 11 specimens, 7 males and 4 females,
were released at the source of the stream Vodice (Babino polje
Sobra), Mljet Is.
(point 1 in Fig. 2), on August 26th, 1910. On August 31st, 1910 a specimen was—© Biodiversity Heritage Library, http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.zoologicalbulletin.de; www.biologiezentrum.at

N. Tvrtkovic

6& B. Krystufek

already noticed in the locality Soline, Govedjari (point 2), 17 km away from the placeof release. In September 1911 a female and her young were seen at Porto Poma (point
3).

Unfortunately, World War I put an end to further observations.

On Mljet Is. the small Indian mongoose multiplied quite quickly while justifying
its

reputation as the best snake killer of its genus (Niethammer 1963). Nowodays,

snakes are very rare on Mljet Is. (personal observation) even though Mljet and theneighbouring islands are known for 10 snake and 6 Hzard species. Since World War
II the horned viper is no longer known on Mljet Is., whereas it still lives on theislands where the mongoose was introduced later.

A rapid decrease in the numberof snakes and large numbers of mongooses on Mljet Is. after 1920 led to a gradualdepopulation of mongooses and their planned introduction onto other islands andthe mainland.

Between 1921 and 1927 mongooses were repeatedly introduced onto the Peninsulaof Peljesac, namely to the vicinity of Trpanj (point 4 in Fig. 2), Orebic (point 5)
and Janjina (point 6; Anonymous 1927; Banicevic 1927; Petkovic 1927; Jokovic
1927).

On Korcula Is. they were introduced in the vicinity of the towns of Korcula(point 7) and Vela Luka (point 8; Jokovic 1927). Mongooses were brought to Brae
Is. about 1926; in 1929 they were observed at Bol (point 9). In 1936 a specimen wascaught at Sutivan (point 10; Tresic-Pavicic 1936). Later on attempts seem to havebeen made to introduce mongooses also onto the other Adriatic islands and the continent, but their introduction was prevented on the Brioni Islands in the northern

The animals released in the
Herzegovina (point 11) soon perished according to oral
statements of local hunters. They were also introduced on Golem Grad, an isle ofless than 1 km^
situated in Prespansko ezero (a lake in Macedonia not shown in
Fig. 1). The origin of these specimens and their later fate, however, was unknown (S.
Petkovski, personal communication). Tiozzo (1927) observed that cooler winterswith temperatures below
2 ° increase the mortality of mongooses. In small stock
populations this probably represents a limiting factor of their survival and distribution on the continent. The population on Mljet Is. itself reveals considerable fluctuations. Thus, for instance, around the year 1961 Kumerloeve could not state
whether mongooses lived on Mljet Is. at all (Niethammer 1963).
Up to 1936 the mongooses must have lived on the Peninsula of Peljesac and theislands of Mljet, Korcula, and Brae. No recent data on their presence is available on
Brae while they are frequent on Mljet Is. (personal observations), Korcula Is. (F.
Krsinic, personal communication) and the Peninsula of Peljesac (M. Miljanic, personal communication). About 1970 the mongoose was introduced onto Hvar Is.
where it is now quite frequent (B. Borcic, personal communication).
On the islands the mongoose is harmful to the wild fowl so that hunting organizations endeavour, rather unsuccessfully, to exterminate it. The damage caused by themongoose to vegetables, figs, grapes, and poultry as well as to the wild fowl has beenreported by different authors (Anonymous 1927; Leontic 1928; Vukovic 1949) andnatives (personal communications). According to Tresic-Pavicic (1936), J. Mateljan,
a merchant from Sumartin, Brae Is., sold about 100 mongooses from Mljet Is. toVenezuela around 1926. Thus, a part of the present American population of H.
auropunctatus, populating the Caribbean Islands and northeastern South America

Adriatic Sea (A. Sabadi, personal communication).
vicinityof Mostar,,—© Biodiversity Heritage Library, http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.zoologicalbulletin.de; www.biologiezentrum.at

Small Indian mongoose in Yugoslavia

7

probably descends from the specimens from Mljet Is. The population of H. auropunctatus of Dalmatia is now the only one of its kind in Europe.

The Adriatic islands onto which the mongoose has been introduced are populatedby the following mammals: Erinaceus concolor, Crocidura suaveolens, Rattus rattus
frugivorus, Apodemus mystacinus (Mljet, Korcula), Apodemus sylvaticus (Korcula,Brae, Hvar), Mus domesticus, Eliomys quercinus (Hvar), Glis glis (Djulic & Tvrtkovic
1979; Krystufek & Tvrtkovic 1988), Canis aureus (Korcula; Krystufek & Tvrtkovic, inpress), and Martes foina.
On the island of Mljet, remnants of mongoose were found in the pellets of theeagle owl {Bubo bubo). Since this owl is quite common on the Adriatic islands wecan expect it to be an important predator of the small Indian mongoose.

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Kurt Bauer and Dr. Friederike Spitzenberger (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien)
for access to the collection and for help with the literature.

Zusammenfassung
Sieben Ichneumons von drei Inseln in der Adria wurden untersucht. Alle gehören der Art
Herpestes auropunctatus an. Die Geschichte ihres Ansiedeins vom Jahre 1910 an, die jetzige
Ausbreitung und die Wahrnehmungen über ihre Biologie werden behandelt. Die auf den
adriatischen Inseln lebende Population von H. auropunctatus ist die einzige dieser Art inEuropa.

© Biodiversity Heritage Library, http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.zoologicalbulletin.de; www.biologiezentrum.at

N. Tvrtkovic & B. Krystufek

8

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(43):

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II.

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b):

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i

17:

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—&—— Scopoha, Ljubljana(in press): Variability

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—

Annaln naturh. Mus. Wien.

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—

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—
—

—

—

Nikola Tvrtkovic, Croatian Natural History Museum, Demetrova 1, YU-41000
Zagreb; Boris Krystufek, Slovene Museum of Natural History, Presernova 20,

YU-61000 Ljubljana.

ZOBODAT - www.zobodat.at
Zoologisch-Botanische Datenbank/Zoological-Botanical Database
Digitale Literatur/Digital Literature
Zeitschrift/Journal: Bonn zoological Bulletin - früher Bonner Zoologische Beiträge.
Jahr/Year: 1990
Band/Volume: 41
Autor(en)/Author(s): Tvrtkovic Nikola, Krystufek Boris
Artikel/Article: Small Indian mongoose Herpestes auropunctatus (Hodgson, 1836)
on the Adriatic Islands of Yugoslavia 3-8