Expanding the geographical distribution of the Egyptian Mongoose, <em>Herpestes ichneumon</em> (Linnaeus, 1758), in South Africa

Check List 14(4): 595-599, doi: 10.15560/14.4.595

Expanding the geographical distribution of the Egyptian Mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon (Linnaeus, 1758), in South Africa

Lourens H. Swanepoel^‡§, Daan Loock^|¶, Wayne S. Matthews^#¤, Kevin W. Emslie^§

‡ African Institute for Conservation Ecology, Levubu, South Africa§ University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa| University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa¶ Secunda Synfuels Operations, Secunda, South Africa# University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa¤ Wildlife Resource Association, Umhlali, South Africa

Corresponding author: Lourens H. Swanepoel ( lourens.swanepoel.univen@gmail.com )

Academic editor: Guilherme Garbino

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Swanepoel LH, Loock D, Matthews WS, Emslie KW (2018) Expanding the geographical distribution of the Egyptian Mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon (Linnaeus, 1758), in South Africa. Check List 14(4): 595-599. https://doi.org/10.15560/14.4.595

Abstract

The current geographical distribution of the Egyptian Mongoose or Large Grey Mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon (Linnaeus, 1758), in South Africa is limited to the south-eastern coastal and eastern sections of the country. One recent sighting in the central part of the country suggested a wider geographical distribution. In this study, we report on confirmed sightings of the Egyptian Mongoose on consecutive years in the central part (at Sasol’s Synfuels Plant in Secunda) of the country. Our sightings thus expand the distribution of the Egyptian Mongoose in South Africa to include some sections of the central to eastern part of the country.

Keywords

Mpumalanga; range expansion; Grassland biome