page_title: Durrell's vontsira
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Durrell's vontsira / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Plate of Galidia olivacea I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (=Salanoia concolor), a small carnivoran from Madagascar.
context_page_description: Durrell's vontsira is a Madagascan mammal in the family Eupleridae of the order Carnivora. It is most closely related to the brown-tailed mongoose, with which it forms the genus Salanoia. The two are genetically similar, but morphologically distinct, leading scientists to recognize them as separate species. After an individual was observed in 2004, the animal became known to science and S. durrelli was described as a new species in 2010. It is found only in the Lac Alaotra area.
  A small, reddish-brown carnivore, Salanoia durrelli is characterized by broad feet with prominent pads, reddish-buff underparts, and broad, robust teeth, among other differences from the brown-tailed mongoose. In the only two weighed specimens, body mass was 600 and 675 g. It is a marsh-dwelling animal that may feed on crustaceans and mollusks. The Lac Alaotra area is a threatened ecosystem, and S. durrelli may also be endangered by competition with introduced species.
context_section_description: Salanoia durrelli most closely resembles the brown-tailed mongoose, which is a small, gracile mongoose-like carnivoran. It is reddish-brown overall, paler than the brown-tailed mongoose. The head and nape are speckled. The underparts are reddish-buff, not brownish as in the brown-tailed mongoose. Most of the tail is similar in color to the body, but the tip is yellowish-brown. The inner side of the well-furred external ear (pinna) is reddish-buff. The broad feet are naked below, with the naked skin buff on the forefeet and dark brown on the hindfeet, and show prominent pads. Each of the five digits on the fore- and hindfeet bears a long, dark brown claw. There are rows of stiff hairs along the outer margins of the feet. In contrast, the brown-tailed mongoose has narrower feet with more poorly developed pads. In S. durrelli, the fur is long and soft.
  In the holotype specimen, a female, the head and body length was 310 mm (12 in), the tail length was 210 mm (8.3 in), the hindfoot length was 66.8 mm (2.63 in), the ear length was 17.5 mm (0.69 in), and the body mass was 675 g (23.8 oz). In another specimen, a male which was captured and released, the head and body length was about 330 mm (13 in), the tail length was about 175 mm (6.9 in), and the body mass was 600 g (21 oz). Based on these limited data, S. durrelli may be slightly smaller than the brown-tailed mongoose.
  The skull generally resembles that of the brown-tailed mongoose, but the rostrum (front part) is broad and deep, the nasal bones are broad and short, and the region of the palate is broad. The mandible (lower jaw) is robust and shows a high, steeply rising coronoid process (a projection at the back of the bone). Statistical analysis of measurements of the skulls and teeth strongly separates S. durrelli from specimens of the brown-tailed mongoose.
  Salanoia durrelli has a more robust dentition than the brown-tailed mongoose; the teeth have larger surface areas. The first and second upper incisors are smaller than the third, which is separated by a pronounced diastema (gap) from the canine tooth. The canine is more robust than in the brown-tailed mongoose. The first upper premolar is small, but the second and third are larger; these two teeth are shorter and broader than in the brown-tailed mongoose. The fourth premolar is large, as is the first molar. The second upper molar is less than one-third the size of the first, and is more highly reduced than that of the brown-tailed mongoose, which is about two-thirds the size of the first molar. The first lower incisor is smaller than the other two. The lower canine, premolars, and first molar are well-developed. The second molar is broad, but smaller than in the brown-tailed mongoose.
caption: The brown-tailed mongoose (Salanoia concolor), the closest relative of S. durrelli (the tail in this plate is incomplete)[12]
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