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Solitary, in the night, it goes: summary of records and range expansion of the common genet in Italy

  • Giuseppe Mazza ORCID logo and Emiliano Mori ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: October 17, 2022
Mammalia
From the journal Mammalia Volume 87 Issue 1

Abstract

The common genet Genetta genetta is a small carnivoran mammal with a wide distribution range covering most of Africa. This species has been introduced to the Iberian Peninsula over 1000 years ago, and then it has spread throughout most of France, reaching Switzerland and North-Western Italy. In this note, we summarised the distribution of the common genet, in Italy, by reviewing grey/scientific literature and records available on online citizen-science platforms. We collected a total of 39 confirmed records, mainly from latrines and killed individuals, which showed that the species, present almost during all the year, has increased its range since the previous summary of 2008.

Keywords: alien mammal species; distribution; Genetta genetta ; Italy; range expansion
Corresponding author: Emiliano Mori, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri – Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Philippe Gaubert, Elias Pesenti, and Francesco Maria Angelici for the precious help provided. An anonymous reviewer and the Associate Editor kindly took the time to improve our MS with their comments.

  1. Author contributions: Both authors planned and supervised the study, collected occurrences and worked on coordinates to build the map. Both authors participated in writing all drafts.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

  4. Research ethics: All procedures performed in this study did not involve animal handling and were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2022-0038).

Received: 2022-04-01
Accepted: 2022-07-26
Published Online: 2022-10-17
Published in Print: 2023-01-27

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Biogeography
  3. Biogeography and conservation of desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus and common warthog Phacochoerus africanus (Artiodactyla: Suidae) in the Horn of Africa
  4. How far westward? Revisiting the distribution of Arctonyx badgers in the westernmost global range
  5. Solitary, in the night, it goes: summary of records and range expansion of the common genet in Italy
  6. Conservation
  7. Rarity and conservation status of the Colombian Speckled Tree Rat, Pattonomys semivillosus (I. Geoffroy, 1838)
  8. Ecology
  9. Trophic structure and foraging strategies in a bat community in northern Pantanal, Brazil
  10. “Brown hare never goes underground”: the exception that proves the rule
  11. New records of the rare bushy-tailed opossum, Glironia venusta Thomas, 1912 (Didelphimorphia), in Brazil, with notes on the species’ diet
  12. First records of albinism and leucism in Ctenodactylus gundi (Rodentia: Ctenodactylidae)
  13. Paint it black: first record of melanism in Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)
  14. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  15. Morphological redescription, phylogenetic position, and distribution of the near threatened cavy Microcavia shiptoni (Thomas, 1925), with a key for the living species of Microcavia
  16. Taxonomic reassessment of the chaco mice of the genus Andalgalomys Williams and Mares, 1978 (Rodentia, cricetidae) with a redefinition of Andalgalomys olrogi Williams and Mares, 1978
  17. Annual Reviewer Acknowledgement
  18. Reviewer acknowledgement Mammalia volume 86 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2022-0038
Keywords for this article
alien mammal species; distribution; Genetta genetta; Italy; range expansion

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Biogeography
  3. Biogeography and conservation of desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus and common warthog Phacochoerus africanus (Artiodactyla: Suidae) in the Horn of Africa
  4. How far westward? Revisiting the distribution of Arctonyx badgers in the westernmost global range
  5. Solitary, in the night, it goes: summary of records and range expansion of the common genet in Italy
  6. Conservation
  7. Rarity and conservation status of the Colombian Speckled Tree Rat, Pattonomys semivillosus (I. Geoffroy, 1838)
  8. Ecology
  9. Trophic structure and foraging strategies in a bat community in northern Pantanal, Brazil
  10. “Brown hare never goes underground”: the exception that proves the rule
  11. New records of the rare bushy-tailed opossum, Glironia venusta Thomas, 1912 (Didelphimorphia), in Brazil, with notes on the species’ diet
  12. First records of albinism and leucism in Ctenodactylus gundi (Rodentia: Ctenodactylidae)
  13. Paint it black: first record of melanism in Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)
  14. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  15. Morphological redescription, phylogenetic position, and distribution of the near threatened cavy Microcavia shiptoni (Thomas, 1925), with a key for the living species of Microcavia
  16. Taxonomic reassessment of the chaco mice of the genus Andalgalomys Williams and Mares, 1978 (Rodentia, cricetidae) with a redefinition of Andalgalomys olrogi Williams and Mares, 1978
  17. Annual Reviewer Acknowledgement
  18. Reviewer acknowledgement Mammalia volume 86 (2022)
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