Servaline Genet

The servaline genet (Genetta servalina) is a genet species native to Central Africa. As it is widely distributed and considered common, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Characteristics
The servaline genet's fur is rufous with black spots on neck, back and sides. Its feet are black. Its long tail is banded with wide black and narrow white rings. It is short-haired and has a dark broken stripe along the spine. The tip of its tail is bright.

Measurements of male museum specimens range from 490 to 510 mm in head and body with a 450 to 465 mm long tail. Females range from 445 to 495 mm in head and body with a 368 to 485 mm long tail.

Distribution and habitat
Servaline genets are distributed from the Sanaga River in Cameroon southwards to the Congo Basin and eastwards to Uganda and Tanzania.

Distribution of subspecies
A number of servaline genet subspecies are recognised, including:


 * Lowe's servaline genet (G. s. lowei). For many years this was only known from the type specimen, a single pelt collected in the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania, in 1932. It was rediscovered during a live trapping survey in 2000, and made the news in 2002 when it was photo-trapped in Udzungwa for the first time. It has since been caught in camera traps in the Uluguru and Nguru ranges, raising the possibility that it is even more widely distributed in Tanzania's Eastern Arc Mountains.
 * The Zanzibar servaline genet (G. s. archeri) is endemic to Unguja Island, Zanzibar, and became known to science in 1995 when a specimen was killed close to the Jozani forest. Several individuals were recorded by camera traps for the first time in January 2003 in the Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park.

The crested servaline genet (G. cristata) was also considered to be a subspecies of the servaline genet, but is now generally regarded as a distinct species.