Aonyx

Aonyx is a genus of otters, containing three species, the African clawless otter, the Congo clawless otter, and the Asian small-clawed otter. The word aonyx means "clawless", derived from the prefix a- ("without") and onyx ("claw/hoof").

Aonyx[1]
Aonyx cinereus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Subfamily:	Lutrinae
Genus:	Aonyx Lesson, 1827[2]
Type species
Aonyx delalandi[a][1] Lesson, 1827
Synonyms[3][1]
Amblonyx Rafinesque, 1832[4] Anahyster Murray, 1860[5] Anonyx Agassiz, 1846[6] Leptonyx Lesson, 1842[7] Micraonyx J. A. Allen, 1919[8] Paraonyx Hinton, 1921[9]

Species

Three species are currently recognised:^[10][11]

Genus Aonyx – Lesson, 1827 – three species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
African clawless otter also known as the Cape clawless otter	Aonyx capensis Schinz, 1821 Five subspecies A. c. capensis (Schinz, 1821) A. c. hindei (Thomas, 1905) A. c. meneleki (Thomas, 1903) A. c. microdon (Pohle, 1920) A. c. philippsi (Hinton, 1921)	sub-Saharan Africa	Size: Habitat: Diet:	NT
Congo clawless otter, also known as the Cameroon clawless otter, and formerly considered a subspecies of the African clawless otter	Aonyx congicus Lönnberg, 1910	Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, Uganda, and possibly Burundi and Nigeria	Size: Habitat: Diet:	NT
Asian small-clawed otter, also known as the oriental small-clawed otter	Aonyx cinereus (Illiger, 1815)	South and Southeast Asia	Size: Habitat: Diet:	VU

Zoologists differ as to whether or not to include the Asian small-clawed otter in this genus, or in its own genus Amblonyx.^[12][13] They also differ as to whether the Congo clawless otter is a species, or is conspecific with the African clawless otter.^[14][15]

Notes

1. Type species by subsequent designation (Palmer 1904).