International audienceThe subfamily Viverrinae is a composite group of carnivores comprising the large and plantigrade terrestrial civets (Civettictis, Viverricula and Viverra) and the slender and generally more arboreal genets and genet-like taxa (Genetta, Prionodon, Poiana, Osbornictis), both having Asiatic and African representatives. The problematic phylogenetic relationships between genets and genet-like taxa are addressed for the first time from a molecular perspective through complete cytochrome b gene sequences. We used a large taxonomic sample set including some very rare and crucial species such as Osbornictis piscivora, Poiana richardsonii (museum specimen material) and Genetta johnstoni. The results from parsimony, distance and maximum likelihood analyses do not support the monophyly of the Viverrinae and contradict previous morphological hypotheses. The Asiatic linsangs (Prionodon spp.) are excluded from the Viverrinae and represent either a basal Feliformia or Viverridae. The other genet-like taxa constitute a strongly supported monophyletic African group, in which the African linsang (represented by Poiana richardsonii) is a sister group to the genets. The aquatic genet Osbornictis piscivora is included within the latter clade, and the genus Osbornictis should be considered a junior synonym of Genetta. African and Asiatic terrestrial civets are monophyletic, but their phylogenetic affinities with the genet-like clade are inconclusive using our data set. On the basis of our molecular results, morphological convergences and adaptations to peculiar habitats and ways of life within genets and genet-like taxa are discussed

The subfamily Viverrinae is a taxon of uncertain systematic status. This study consists of cladistic analyses based on morphological characters of specimens belonging to the genera Genetta, Osbornictis, Poiana and Prionodon. Two levels of analysis are carried out, one concerning generic relationships (intergeneric analysis) and one dealing with the interrelationships of species within the genus Genetta (intrageneric analysis). In the first analysis, different outgroups were used in order to test the ingroup topology. With regard to the intergeneric analysis, Osbornictis, Poiana and Prionodon, together with Genetta johnstoni, constitute a monophyletic group (including Nandinia), which is the sister‐group of a clade formed by the other species of genets. Thus, the genus Genetta is regarded as paraphyletic. Prionodon appears to be a derived taxon. The Poiana–Prionodon clade is well supported, especially by ultrastructural hair characters. The cladogram topology in the intrageneric analysis indicates an ecological transition from the rain forest genets to the savanna genets. This supports a rain forest origin of the genus Genetta, a conclusion which may be generalized to the entire study group. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002, 134, 317–334.

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The kouprey (Bos sauveli Urbain, 1937) is a very rare bovid species of Cambodia, which may be extinct in the wild, as no living specimen has been observed for a long time. Here, we describe a complete taxidermy mount, which presents astonishing morphological similarities with the kouprey. The animal was mounted in 1871 at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, where it was referenced as No. 1871-576. It was deposited at the Natural History Museum of Bourges, France, in 1931, where it is still conserved today. To clarify the taxonomic status of the specimen of Bourges, DNA was extracted from a piece of bone taken on the mandible, and two different fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene were independently amplified and sequenced. The phylogenetic analyses show that the specimen of Bourges is robustly associated with the holotype of the kouprey, and that both are related to other wild species of Bos found in Indochina, i.e., banteng (B. javanicus) and gaur (B. frontalis). Because of doubts for sexing the animal, we applied a molecular test based on the PCR amplification of a DNA fragment specific to the Y chromosome. The results indicate that the specimen of Bourges is a male. The comparisons with male kouprey previously described in the literature reveal important differences concerning the body size, general coloration and horns. As these differences involve phenotypic traits that are strongly selected in case of domestication, we suggest that the specimen of Bourges was a domestic ox. This implies therefore that the kouprey may have been domesticated in Cambodia, and that several extant local races may be directly related to the kouprey.