Servaline Genet - Subspecies

Subspecies

A number of subspecies of servaline are recognised. These include:

• 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. It only became known to science in 1995 when a skin and skull were obtained in Kitogani village in south-central Unguja. A number of individuals were photo-trapped for the first time in January 2003 in nearby Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park.

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