Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2021 | 13(11): 19649–19651
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6802.13.11.19649-19651
#6802 | Received 13 October 2020 | Final
received 30 August 2021 | Finally accepted 06 September 2021
First record of Spotted Linsang Prionodon pardicolor
(Mammalia: Carnivora: Prionodontidae) with
photographic evidence in Meghalaya, India
Papori Khatonier
1 & Adrian Wansaindor Lyngdoh
2
1 Loris in the Abode of Clouds
Project, House no. 98, Milantirtha, Rupai Siding, DoomDooma, Tinsukia
District, Assam 786153, India.
2 Loris in the Abode of Clouds
project, House no. 15, Lumkshaid West, Shillong, East Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya 793002, India.
1 parikhatonier@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 adrian.lyngdoh@gmail.com
Editor: Anwaruddin Choudhury, The Rhino Foundation for Nature in
North East India, Guwahati, India. Date
of publication: 26 September 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Khatonier,
P. & A.W. Lyngdoh (2021). First record of Spotted
Linsang Prionodon pardicolor
(Mammalia: Carnivora: Prionodontidae) with
photographic evidence in Meghalaya, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(11): 19649–19651. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6802.13.11.19649-19651
Copyright: © Khatonier
& Lyngdoh 2021. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: EDGE of Existence
programme, Conservation and Policy, Zoological Society of
London; National Geographic Society (PhotoArk programme).
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We would like to extend our
sincere thanks to the EDGE of Existence programme,
Conservation and Policy, Zoological Society of London, London, NW1 4RY, United
Kingdom and National Geographic Society (PhotoArk)
for funding the project on Bengal Slow Loris in Meghalaya, India, during which
the Spotted Linsang was encountered while carrying out the study. At the
Department of Environment and Forest, Government of Meghalaya we thank the PCCF
and DFO (Khasi Hills Division) for providing the necessary permissions and
support. We also thank Shri. P. Doonai (assistant
conservator of forest, Khasi Hills Division, Department of Forest, Meghalaya)
and Shri. Wanphai Lyngdoh
(beat officer, Nongpoh Range, Department of Forest,
Meghalaya) for providing information and photograph about the Spotted Linsang.
We express our thanks to Shri. Goson Sangma for accompanying us to the forest as well as
providing information about the Spotted Linsang. We are also grateful to Dr.
H.N. Kumara and Dr. Jyoti Das for their comments and
suggestions on the manuscript.
Abbreviations: CITES—Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Appendix I,
II and III) | IUCN—International Union for Conservation of Nature | RF—Reserved
Forest | WS—Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Spotted
Linsang Prionodon pardicolor
is distributed from central Nepal, Bhutan, northeastern India, and southern
China to the northern Sundaic region (Van Rompaey 1995; Jennings & Veron
2015; Duckworth et al. 2016). It is listed under Appendix I of CITES and as
‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Duckworth et al.
2016). In India, it is accorded the highest protection under Schedule I of the
Indian Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
Previously
placed in the civet family (Viverridae), the Spotted
Linsang is now under a new monogeneric family, Prionodontidae – a sister group of the family Felidae, from
which it is estimated to have diverged about 33 million years ago (Gaubert & Veron 2003). Its
size ranges between 31–45 cm and weight between 0.55–1.2 kg (Hunter 2020). It
is characterized by a pointed muzzle, an elongated neck and head, a slender
body, short limbs, and a tail that is as long as its head and body, between
30–40 cm. It also exhibits cat-like characteristics such as retractile claws.
It has a fulvous coat, with large black spots on its dorsal side that extend
from the shoulder to its posterior and decrease in size as they approach the
ventral side. The long cylindrical tail is also covered by eight to ten broad
dark rings, separated by paler rings (Hodgson 1847; Blanford
1888–91; Van Rompaey 1995).
In India,
the current distribution of the Spotted Linsang is limited to the states of
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim, and northern Bengal
(Duckworth et al. 2016). But few authors have also mentioned that there is a
high probability of its distribution in Meghalaya (Choudhury 2013; Jennings
& Veron 2014). ----In this paper, we report the
first record of Spotted Linsang in the state of Meghalaya with photographic
evidence, which extends the known distribution range of this species.
On 29
October 2019, at around 0400h, a Spotted Linsang (Image 1) was found by a
hospital staff worker, Wanphai Lyngdoh
straying inside the compound of Nongpoh Civil
Hospital, Nongpoh Town, Ri-Bhoi
district, Meghalaya, India (485m; 25.9110N, 91.8780E)
(Figure 1a). It was rescued by the forest department later in the day and
released back to Lailad Salt Lick area of Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary (located approx. 6 km from Nongpoh town; 250m; 26.0370N, 91.8670E)
at 1700h. Again, on 4 November 2019, one
more individual was rescued from Nongpoh Civil
hospital compound around 1630h. It was released on the very same day in Nongkhyllem WS (Lailad Salt Lick
area).
Furthermore,
in the same area, one resident of Pahamsyiem village
near Nongpoh town reported sighting of the Spotted
Linsang on a number of occasions, around five years ago, in ‘Lum Knia’ hill. When shown the
photo of the Spotted Linsang, Leopard Cat and Small Indian Civet, from “Mammals
of India” (by Grewal & Chakravarty 2017), he insisted that it was the
Spotted Linsang that he had sighted (Goson Sangma, pers. comm.).
This area
which includes the wildlife sanctuary, Umsaw Reserved
Forest, Nongkhyllem RF and patches of unclassed
(community owned) forests are mostly characterized by tropical Moist Deciduous
forest, with patches of tropical Semi-evergreen forest along rivers. There are
also large bamboo patches in old Jhum areas and scattered grasses in
depressions and plantations dominated by Shorea
robusta and Tectona
grandis (Choudhury 1998).
Another
encounter in the state was in 1997, in Ri-Bhoi
district, when a forest official sighted one Spotted Linsang near the
Hydropower Dam of Umiam Lake (25.6600N,
91.9010E) crossing the National Highway 40 at dusk (P. Doonai, pers. comm. 2020) (Figure 1b). The highway intersects a patch of unclassed
forests, which is contiguous with the Riat Khwan RF. The area experiences a subtropical climate. The
vegetation of the Riat Khwan
RF and the adjoining forests is mostly subtropical broadleaf hill forests, with
the presence of Khasi Pine Pinus kesiya
towards higher elevation (Lahkar 2002).
This current
record of the Spotted Linsang is in a habitat similar to the habitat types
where the species had previously been recorded (Pham-Chong-Ahn
1980; Sunquist 1982; Choudhury 2002; Borah 2010; Ghose et al. 2012; Naniwadekar et
al. 2013).
Among the
handful of records of the Spotted Linsang in India, it was never reported
before from the state of Meghalaya (Lyngdoh et al.
2019). The only mention about the species in Meghalaya was from an unpublished
social survey report in south Garo Hills where the respondent stated that the
animal had caused damage to domestic livestock (Samrakshan
Trust 2008).
The Spotted
Linsang is mainly threatened by habitat loss caused by deforestation and
conversion to agriculture, such as Jhum and terrace farming (Choudhury 2002;
Jennings & Veron 2015).
For
figure & image - - click here
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