Japanese Raccoon Dog

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Japanese Raccoon Dog
Conservation status
Data Deficient
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Canidae Genus: Nyctereutes Species: N. procyonides Subspecies: N. p. viverrinus
Trinomial name
Nyctereutes procyonides viverrinus

The Japanese Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus), also known as the Tanuki, is conventionally considered as a subspecies of the Raccoon Dog. But recent genetic analysis has confirmed unique sequences of mtDNA, classifying the Japanese raccoon dog as a distinct isolation species, based on evidence of eight Robertsonian translocations. The CBC conference in September 2001 rejected the classification of the Japanese racoon dog as a separate species, but its status as a species is still disputed, based on significant genetic differences from between the Japanese and Chinese raccoon dogs [1]. The Raccoon Dog's elastic genome has caused uncertainty in its taxonomy.

[edit] References

• Comparative chromosome painting defines the karyotypic relationships among the domestic dog, Chinese raccoon dog and Japanese raccoon dog. Friday, October 29, 2004. Chromosome Research. Volume 11, Number 8 / November, 2003.

          Japanese raccoon dogs are also known as Javiers or Xavier depending on the lenghth of the whiskers.

[edit] External links

• Nyctereutes viverrinus (No common name)