Civet

A civet (/ˈsɪvɪt/) is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species's diversity is found in southeast Asia. Civets do not form a monophyletic group, as they consist only of certain members of the Viverridae and Eupleridae.

The African civet, Civettictis civetta, has historically been the main species from which a musky scent used in perfumery, also referred to as "civet", was obtained.

The common name is used for a variety of carnivoran mammal species, mostly of the family Viverridae. It is also used to refer to the African palm civet and the Malagasy civet.

The African palm civet (Nandinia binotata) is genetically distinct and belongs in its own monotypic family, Nandiniidae.

The Malagasy civet (Fossa fossana) belongs to a separate family Eupleridae, with other carnivorans of Madagascar. The Malagasy civet was to be placed in the subfamily Hemigalinae with the banded palm civets and then in its own subfamily, Fossinae, because of similarities with others in the group pointed out by Gregory, but it is now classified as a member of the subfamily Euplerinae, after Pocock pointed out more similarities with that one.

Civets are also called toddy cats in English, marapaṭṭi (മരപട്ടി) in Malayalam, musang in Malay, Filipino, and Indonesian, and urulǣvā (උරුලෑවා) in Sinhalese.^{[citation needed]} There can be confusion among speakers of Malay because the indigenous word musang has been mistakenly applied to foxes by printed media instead of rubah, which is the correct but lesser-known term.^{[citation needed]}

A minority of writers use civet to refer only to Civettictis, Viverra and Viverricula civets. However, in more common usage in English, the name also covers the civets of the viverrid genera Chrotogale, Cynogale, Diplogale, Hemigalus, Arctogalidia, Macrogalidia, Paguma and Paradoxurus.^{[citation needed]}

In Sri Lanka, the Asian palm civet, Small indian civet and Golden palm civet species is known as "uguduwa" by the Sinhala-speaking community. The terms uguduwa and kalawedda are used interchangeably by the Sri Lankan community to refer to the same animal. However, the term kalawedda is mostly used to refer to another species in the civet family, the Golden palm civet.^{[citation needed]}