Talk:Paradoxurus

Orphaned references in Paradoxurus
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Paradoxurus's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "MSW3": From Jerdon's Palm Civet:  From Leopardus:  From Jungle Cat:  From Caracal:  From Sulawesi Palm Civet:  From Felinae:  From Pantanal Cat:  From Golden Jackal: </li> <li>From Cougar: </li> <li>From Mammal: </li> <li>From Hyena: </li> <li>From Lion: </li> <li>From Leopard: </li> <li>From Jaguarundi: </li> <li>From Catopuma: </li> <li>From Skunk: </li> <li>From Jaguar: </li> </ul>

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 17:05, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't think Palm civet should redirect to Paradoxurus.
Currently, Palm civet redirects to Paradoxurus, with the note For the genetically distinct genus Nandinia, see African palm civet.

This does not seem appropriate, because there are at least 6 species of palm civet in neither Paradoxurus nor Nandinia, including each in their own genus in Viverridae.
 * Owston's palm civet
 * Hose's palm civet
 * Banded palm civet
 * Small-toothed palm civet
 * Sulawesi palm civet
 * Masked palm civet

Perhaps Palm civet should redirect to Civet, or Palm civet should be a disambiguation page. I heard you like clades (talk) 23:56, 23 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Palm-civet with a hyphen redirects to yet another page, Viverridae. I heard you like clades (talk) 00:46, 24 January 2023 (UTC)


 * I have reverted an attempt to turn this redirect into some sort of mini-article. Make it a dab page, possibly, or even a set index, but if you want to write an article about palm civets then you're going to need a bit more, and especially you're going to need some references.  One last, or first, thing to consider: a fair number of articles include palm civet as a wikilink, and may not take kindly to you changing the purpose of that page.  Or in this case, many of those links may be inappropriate, expecting one sort of palm civet and currently getting another.  Either way, you should really look at them before yanking the page away - there is a "What links here" button or link on the left, possibly hidden inside a menu depending on your skin.  Lithopsian (talk) 17:26, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Set index seems most appropriate, considering there exist quite a few of those for animal common names. I can look through the citations of those linking articles to see what species or genera they are referring to. I heard you like clades (talk) 17:46, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I find it very difficult to identify what many of these common name links are really referring to without quite a lot of insider knowledge.  Probably most of them should be disambiguated to the relevant species.  There wouldn't generally be wikilinks to set index articles in the body of articles, more often in see also links or perhaps hatnotes.  Lithopsian (talk) 17:51, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I've gone through all of the articles that link to palm civet and either changed the link to point to something more appropriate, or tagged the link with . (For instance, a few of the species articles said "...species of palm civet..." and I've changed that link to be to viverrid.) The number of articles that link is not too great. We could put some more effort into determining which of the palm civets those articles are talking about. - UtherSRG (talk) 14:13, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * The only exception to this is the William Ogilby article. This needs some research. this article says he named the "...white-footed palm civet... Paradoxurus leucopus. I can't find the sci name anywhere but in the few historical documents mentioned on Ogilby's article, nor the common name anywhere. - UtherSRG (talk) 14:22, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Ah! Found it! It's listed as a synonym of P. hermaphroditus in MSW2. I wonder why it got dropped in MSW3. UtherSRG (talk) 14:32, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I've now dealt with the Ogilby article. - UtherSRG (talk) 14:50, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Ogilby does refer to it "the whitefooted Paradoxure" (p302) although that seems more as an adjective than a vernacular name.— <span style="font-family:Arial;background:#d6ffe6;border:solid 1px;border-radius:5px;box-shadow:darkcyan 0px 1px 1px;"> Jts1882 &#124; talk 15:20, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Nice. But I'm saying that a living specimen of the species now popularly known as the white-footed palm civet. doesn't work. They might have called that specific specimen or species by that name, but that moniker seems to have quickly fallen off. Perhaps change "now popularly" to "then popularly"? UtherSRG (talk) 15:34, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Perhaps you can shed some light on the wording you chose. - UtherSRG (talk) 15:37, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I’m afraid I can’t. It’s certainly not borne out by the article. I think I was thrown by the reference to the "whitefooted Paradoxure". LondonScottish (talk) 15:49, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks anyway. :) I think I'll change species now popularly known as the white-footed palm civet to "species he called the whitefooted Paradoxure". I currently have it linked to Asian palm civet (was to palm civet). Do we agree on this linkage, or is there something better to link it to? - UtherSRG (talk) 15:58, 25 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Not needed now, but http://hesperomys.com/ might be useful as a resource in future. There is an entry for Paradoxurus leucopus Ogilby, 1829, which confirms what was found above. It also has a etymological feature that might be of interest, a list of species using pus as a suffix. — <span style="font-family:Arial;background:#d6ffe6;border:solid 1px;border-radius:5px;box-shadow:darkcyan 0px 1px 1px;"> Jts1882 &#124; talk 09:29, 26 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Neat! Thanks! - UtherSRG (talk) 11:53, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

Merge & redirect palm civet to civet
I wonder if this might be a more viable solution. As an SIA, palm civet really doesn't have much to say that can't be said in civet. - UtherSRG (talk) 11:53, 26 January 2023 (UTC)