African striped weasel

The African striped weasel (Poecilogale albinucha), also known as the white-naped weasel, striped weasel or African weasel, is a small mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa, where its range stretches from as far north as Kenya south to South Africa. It is in the family Mustelidae and is the lone member of the genus Poecilogale. It has a long, slender body with short legs and a bushy tail. One of the smallest carnivorans in Africa, it measures 24 to 35 cm (9.4 to 13.8 in) long excluding the tail, with males generally larger than females. It has black fur over most of its body, with distinctive white bands running from the top of its head down its back, with the tail being completely white. The closest living relative of this species is the striped polecat, and it may also be related to the extinct Propoecilogale bolti.

The African striped weasel is most commonly seen in savanna and veld grasslands with termite mounds, but has also been recorded in semideserts, rainforests, fynbos and even areas used by humans such as pine plantations and agricultural land. It is a powerful digger and excavates burrows which it inhabits. Though not commonly seen, it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 1996 because of its wide range and habitat tolerance. There are no known major threats to the species, though it is commonly used in local traditional medicine. Owls and domestic dogs are known to prey on it, and weasels sometimes die in fights against each other. This weasel generally flees from any perceived threats, but may try warding off its attacker with noises, fake charges or a noxious fluid sprayed from its perineal glands.

African striped weasels are specialized predators that feed almost entirely on rodents, though they occasionally eat birds as well. Even when hungry, they ignore other types of small animals and eggs provided to it as food. This animal commonly bites its prey in the back of the neck while rolling around or kicking the prey's back, likely in an attempt to dislocate the neck. Larger prey may instead be dispatched with bites to the throat, though only females have been observed doing this. This weasel rarely drinks water, only doing so in small quantities when the weather is hot. It is mostly a nocturnal and solitary animal, though small groups of up to four individuals are sometimes seen. Breeding takes place from spring to the end of summer, and two to three young tend to be born per litter after a gestation period of about 30 days.

The African striped weasel was first described in 1864, when British zoologist John Edward Gray studied a skin of the animal purchased by the British Museum ten years earlier that was labeled as that of a "zorilla". He recognized that this skin was unlike that of any other known member of the mustelid family, and determined that it represented a new species which he named Zorilla albinucha. The specific name combines the Latin words albi meaning 'white' and nucha meaning 'nape'. Five years later, Gray published a catalogue of some of the mammal specimens in the British Museum, in which he moved the species into the genus Mustela as Mustela albinucha, commenting that it only has the colouration of a zorilla. In 1883, another British zoologist, Oldfield Thomas, noticed that the species had significant differences in the skull compared to any known mustelid genera. He therefore established the new genus Poecilogale and renamed the species as Poecilogale albinucha. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek words poikilos (ποικίλος), meaning 'particoloured' or 'cunning', and galē (γαλῆ), meaning 'weasel'. Thomas' study was based on five African striped weasel specimens, four of which were kept in the British Museum, with the remaining one in the Paris Museum of Natural History.

In 1865, German naturalist Wilhelm Peters reported two mustelid specimens from Golungo Alto, Angola. He described one of them as a new species which he named Zorilla africana, and thought the other should also be considered a variety of this species. However, Austrian explorer Friedrich Welwitsch told him that the latter specimen represents the species named a year earlier as Zorilla albinucha. Welwitsch believed that the two forms were consistently different, and that even the local indigenous population refers to them by different names. In the same year, Portuguese zoologist José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage studied two skins and a skeleton of African striped weasels from Calandula, Angola and proposed that the animal's scientific name be changed to Zorilla flavistriata. Both Zorilla africana and Zorilla flavistriata are no longer deemed valid names, and are now considered junior synonyms of Poecilogale albinucha.

A number of African striped weasel subspecies have been proposed during the 20th century, though there is debate as to how many of these are valid. Some authors believe that the species is monotypic and that all proposed subspecies should be considered invalid. The following five subspecies were recognized in the third edition of Mammal Species of the World, published in 2005:

The African striped weasel is the only species in the monotypic genus Poecilogale, which belongs in the subfamily Ictonychinae within the family Mustelidae. Ictonychinae is divided into two tribes, Ictonychini and Lyncodontini. This species is part of Ictonychini, which it shares with the striped polecat, Saharan striped polecat and marbled polecat. Genetic analyses indicate that the closest living relative of the African striped weasel is the striped polecat, with the two being recovered as sister taxa in multiple studies. A study published in 2008 suggested that the lineages of these two species diverged between 2.7 and 2.2 million years ago, while a 2012 study proposed an earlier date between 4.3 and 3.4 million years ago. The following cladogram shows the position of the African striped weasel among its closest living relatives according to Gray et al., (2022):

A fossil species, Propoecilogale bolti, was originally named as a member of the genus Ictonyx, but has been placed in a separate genus since 1987. It shows features in its skull and teeth that are intermediate between Ictonyx and Poecilogale, and has been suggested to be an ancestor of the African striped weasel. Fossil specimens of Propoecilogale have been found in the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene-aged cave deposits of South Africa, suggesting the animal existed between 2.6 and 1.4 million years ago.