Carnivoran Taxonomy
Carnivoran Taxonomy
This will be a huge project. The order Carnivora include famous predators such as felids, canids, bears, seals, racoons, etc. Yes, in this one blog post, I will conver all the lineages of Carnivorans as much as possible. The Sanskrit name I choose for Carnivora is मांसाहारिन्.
We will start with the Feliformia:
The most basal of these is the Nimavidae, which are the false saber tooth cats. I will call them "dagger fang" or कृपाणदंष्ट्रिमय. We now move onto the Aeluroidae, which include typical cats, civets, and hyenas. Like the cats we know and love, many members of this clade groom themselves, thus I can call them मार्जार. Of these, the basal one is the African Palm Civet of Nandiniidae, making them not true civets. I will call them "musk cat" or कस्तूरिमार्जारमय. Now we get into the main members, the Vivieroidae and Feloide. The former include true civets, hyenas, and mongooses. I will call this clade "Mongoose resembling" or नकुलदृग्रूपिन्.
The Viverridae are none other than the Civets. They are known for their musk that they produce. Many Sanskrit names for this animal translate to something along the lines of "must cat". However, I will go with the more shorter पूतीक, thus "पूतीकमय". Now on to the superfamily Herpestoidae, which include mongooses, fossas, and hyenas. I will call them "mongoose resembling" or नकुलाकृतिरूपिन्. The family Herpestidae, which include the classical mongooses is सुनकुलमय. The Eupleridae, which are endemic to Madagascar, are thus "Malagasy mongooses" or मालगशनकुलमय. Yes in the Sanskrit system, both of them are tre mongooses.
The next is Hyenidae, which are obviously the hyenas. This is simple तरक्षूमय. The Percrocutidae is just उपतरक्षुमय. The Lophocyonidae is सानुदंष्ट्रिमय or "fangs with ridges". I will have to rename this.
Now finally Feloidae, the actual cats. I will call them "good cats" or सुमार्जाररूपिन्. The Prionodontidae consist of the Asiatic Lansings. I will just call them "tangentially related to cats" or अपबिडालमय. The Felidae is just बिडालमय. I will skip Stenogale for now seen as it has been classified in several places.
Now with in Felidae, I will only go over the extant subfamilies. The Patherinae is शार्दूलात्मक. The Felinae is "good cats" or सद्बिडालात्मक.
With in the Pantherinae, we have the Panthera genus and the Neofelis genus (clouded leopard). Panthera is शार्दूल. Neofelis is पृक्षशार्दुल् (dappled "panther"). I have a rule where if we choose to use the superfamily, family, or subfamily name for the genus, only the type genus can have the name by itself, all else must have some adjective or noun compounded to it, Thus Panthera can be शार्दूल, but Neofelis must be पृक्षशार्दुल्. I propose for the members of the type genus, when refering them in common speech to specify them, we use समीचीन as an adjective.
Now with in Felinae, we have Felis, which is just बिडाल. The Cheetah is of the genus Achinonyx or "motionless nails", becuase Cheetahs can't retract their claws. Thus "uncovered claws" or असंवृतनख. The common name can be चित्रबिडाल. The genus Leopardus consisting of Central and South American wild life will चीञ्चबिडाल, where the word चीञ्च is borrowed from Quechua "chincha", which can refer to any spotted feline. An ocelot is ओसेल, by the way. The Puma is पूम. The Lynx is गौप, borrowed from Old Norse: gaupa. The genus Caracal is श्यावकर्णिन्, a calque of Persian "siyagosh" meaning "black ear". This is is loaned into Hindi.
Finally for the dog people reading this, I will now cover the Caniformia.
The basal members of this group is the Amphicyonidae or "bear dogs", which is what I will call them: ऋक्षकुक्कुरमय. Finally the Canidae or श्वमय (Canoidae is just श्वरूपिन्). Now we have Arctoidae, which include bears, seals, and weasels. I will call the infraorder "bear": भल्ल. I am broadening its use. The word may originally have mean "auspicious" and was euphemistically since saying "ऋक्ष" was taboo. Now Ursoidae is ऋक्षरूपिन्, The parvorder Pinnipedia are the seals, sea lions, and walruses. I originally named them जलशौव, or "water canine", or though "water bear-like creature" is better, thus जलभल्ल. I wanted to name them "जलकश" or "water weasel" since they are closer to Mustelids, but I don't no if कश means weasel or mongoose.
Speaking of, Musteloidae includes badgers, weasels, wolverines. Now the honey badger is known as बिज्जु in local Indian languages. I shall borrow it as a tadbhava: बिज्जुक. Thus any Mustelid is बिज्जुक. So the super family is बिज्जुकरूपिन्. Perhaps Pinipedia could be जलोपबिज्जुक. The family Mustilidae is सुबिज्जुक. The Procyonidae, which includes racoons (मपाच, from Nahuatl: mapachtl), can be मपाचमय.
With in the family Canidae, the sub family Caninae is सुश्वात्मक. The tribe Canini will be named as "good dogs" or सच्छुनकसङ्काश. Now Vulpini, or foxes, is लोमटकसङ्काश. With in Canini is the subtribe Canina, which are the wolf-like dogs, thus वृक. Only members of this tribe is allowed to have "वृक" in their name, without any prefixes. The sister subtribe Cerdocyonina is उपवृक.
Summary
Amphicyonidae: ऋक्षकुक्कुरमय
Canidae: श्वमय
Arctoidae: भल्ल
Ursoidae: ऋक्षरूपिन्
Pinnipedia: जलभल्ल or जलोपबिज्जुक
Musteloidae: बिज्जुकरूपिन्
Mustilidae: सुबिज्जुक
Procyonidae: मपाचमय
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