Urva_(genus)
Urva (genus)
Genus of mongooses
Urva is a genus comprising the Asian mongooses within the mongoose family Herpestidae. Species in the genus were formerly classified in the genus Herpestes, which is now thought to comprise exclusively African mongooses; phylogenetic evidence indicates that the Asian mongooses form a monophyletic group and had an Asian common ancestor. Urva forms a clade with Xenogale and Atilax, while Herpestes forms a clade with all other African mongoose species.[1][2]
An Urva fossil specimen, an upper molar tooth, was excavated in the Ayeyarwady River valley in central Myanmar and is estimated to date to the late Pliocene.[3]
The scientific name Urva was coined by Brian Houghton Hodgson as the specific name of crab-eating mongoose in 1836,[4] and as the generic name in the following year.[5] Urva species have a wide distribution spanning from the Arabian Peninsula to the Indonesian island of Java.[6] The small Indian mongoose (U. auropunctata) has been introduced to several islands in the late 19th century, where it has become an invasive species.[7][8]