MammalBase - Accepted taxon: Herpestes ichneumon

Accepted taxon: Herpestes ichneumon
Taxon:	Herpestes ichneumon
Rank:	Species
Higher Classification:	CARNIVORA \| FELIFORMIA \| Herpestidae \| Herpestes
Reference:	Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), JHU Press, 2005.

Fig.1 - Ternary plot of the proximate analysis for the Herpestes ichneumon diet.
CF (Crude Fibre) 1, ASH (Ash contents) 14, NFE (Nitrogen-Free-Extract) 7, CP (Crude Protein) 60, EE (Ether Extract) 18. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 1. List of Diet Items for Herpestes ichneumon.
TSN Complete name	Part	Ratio ^a.	Reference(s)
Rodentia	WHOLE	16.67	Grzimek,B…
Vertebrata	WHOLE	16.67	Damuth, J…
Brachyura	WHOLE	13.33	Damuth, J…
Aves	WHOLE	13.33	Grzimek,B…
Amphibia	WHOLE	10.00	Grzimek,B…
Vertebrata	EGGS	10.00	Damuth, J…
Reptilia	WHOLE	6.67	Grzimek,B…
Osteichthyes	WHOLE	6.67	Damuth, J…
Arthropoda	WHOLE	3.33	Damuth, J…
Insecta	WHOLE	3.33	Grzimek,B…

^a. Standardized values. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 2. List of Standard Traits for Herpestes ichneumon.
Trait	Selected Value	All Value(s)	Reference(s)
Temporal habits	diurnal	arrhythmic, diurnal	– Djagoun,S., 2009, Small carnivorans from southern Benin: a preliminary assessment of diversity and hunting pressure, Small Carnivore Conservation, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554
Locomotion: Eisenberg 1981	Terrestrial	Terrestrial	– Djagoun,S., 2009, Small carnivorans from southern Benin: a preliminary assessment of diversity and hunting pressure, Small Carnivore Conservation, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554
Dietary category: Miljutin 2009	Animalivore	Animalivore, Frugivore	– A. R. Friscia, B. Van Valkenburgh, A. R. Biknevicius, 2007, 'An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans', Journal of Zoology, vol. 272, no. 1, pp. 82-100, Djagoun,S., 2009, Small carnivorans from southern Benin: a preliminary assessment of diversity and hunting pressure, Small Carnivore Conservation, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554
Dietary category: Eisenberg 1981	Carnivore	Carnivore	– A. R. Friscia, B. Van Valkenburgh, A. R. Biknevicius, 2007, 'An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans', Journal of Zoology, vol. 272, no. 1, pp. 82-100, Djagoun,S., 2009, Small carnivorans from southern Benin: a preliminary assessment of diversity and hunting pressure, Small Carnivore Conservation

Table 3. List of Standard Measurements for Herpestes ichneumon.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	2	2	-	-	-	2,412.5	-	-	Engelman,…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	12	-	-	12	-	2,953	-	-	Nelson, A…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	166	-	166	-	-	2,145.34	-	-	Nelson, A…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	5	-	5	-	-	2,640	-	-	Nelson, A…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	132	-	-	132	-	2,417.34	-	-	Nelson, A…

Table 4. List of other Measurements ^b. for Herpestes ichneumon.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
OPD (l)		n/a	2	2	-	-	-	41	-	-	Evans, Al…
OPD (u)		n/a	3	3	-	-	-	59	-	-	Evans, Al…

^b. other Measurements. Source Measurements which are not listed on or mapped with the Standard Traits..

Table 5. List of Data Sources for Herpestes ichneumon.
Taxon	Reference	Match	Status
Herpestes ichneumon	Djagoun,S., 2009, Small carnivorans from southern Benin: a preliminary assessment of diversity and hunting pressure, Small Carnivore Conservation	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Herpestes ichneumon	Gittleman,J. L., 1985, Carnivore body size: ecological and taxonomic correlates, Oecologia	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Herpestes ichneumon	Friscia,AR, 2006, An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans, Journal of zoology	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Herpestes ichneumon	Damuth, J. 2010. ABSOLUT 6 a mammalian database compiled by the national center for ecological analysis and synthesis (NCEAS ) workshop on mammalian communities.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Herpestes ichneumon	Evans, Alistair R., Gregory P. Wilson, Mikael Fortelius, and Jukka Jernvall. Ã¢â‚¬Å“High-Level Similarity of Dentitions in Carnivorans and Rodents.Ã¢â‚¬Â Nature 445, no. 7123 (December 13, 2006): 78Ã¢â‚¬â€œ81. doi:10.1038/nature05433.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Herpestes ichneumon	Grzimek,B., 2003, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Mammals I-V,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Herpestes ichneumon	Law, C.J., Blackwell, E.A., Curtis, A.A., Dickinson, E., Hartstone‐Rose, A. and Santana, S.E., 2022. Decoupled evolution of the cranium and mandible in carnivoran mammals. Evolution.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Herpestes ichneumon	Engelman, R.K., 2022. Occipital condyle width (OCW) is a highly accurate predictor of body mass in therian mammals. BMC biology, 20(1), p.37.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Herpestes ichneumon	Nelson, A., Engelman, R.K. and Croft, D.A., 2023. How to weigh a fossil mammal? South American notoungulates as a case study for estimating body mass in extinct clades. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 30(3), pp.773-809.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Herpestes ichneumon	Rowan, J., Beaudrot, L., Franklin, J., Reed, K.E., Smail, I.E., Zamora, A. and Kamilar, J.M., 2020. Geographically divergent evolutionary and ecological legacies shape mammal biodiversity in the global tropics and subtropics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(3), pp.1559-1565.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted

Citation for this page: [The MammalBase community 2026. / CC BY 4.0. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7462864 Herpestes ichneumon , Accessed 16th April 2026 at https://mammalbase.net/me/14321]