 Although the servaline was known to rural Zanzibaris, zoologists remained unaware of its existence until the last decade of the 20th century.In 1995 Tony Archer, a wildlife consultant working in Zanzibar, acquired a dried skin and skull in the village of Kitogani, in south-central Unguja.This specimen was subsequently described as a new subspecies of servaline genet ("G. s. archeri"), named in honour of Archer.