[4] The scientific name Herpestes was proposed by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger in 1811 for mongoose species in the south of the Old World, commonly called "Ichneumon" at the time.

[6] In 1864, John Edward Gray listed 22 Herpestes species, which he considered as part of the Viverridae.

[7] In 1882, Oldfield Thomas reviewed African mongoose zoological specimens in natural history museums.

His criteria included small premolars, small inner cusps of the third upper premolars and transversely extended second upper molars with rather concave posterior margins; their bodies are long with long tails, short legs and five digits to each paw.

[1] The extinct Herpestes lemanensis was excavated in tertiary depositions in the Loire Valley in central France and described in 1853.