Mustela

North American long-tailed weasel Mustela frenata, from here.

Belongs within: Mustelidae.

The genus Mustela contains the weasels, stoats, polecats and mink, and are small predators native to Eurasia and North and South America. The weasels and stoats of the subgenus Mustela are particularly slender, with a brown dorsum and pale underparts. The ferrets of the subgenus Putorius are generally stockier in build, and possess a dark mask across the face (King 1984).

Characters (from Anderson et al. 1986): Body long and lithe; legs short; braincase long and low. Jaws short and powerful, carnassials elongate and bladelike, three premolars in each jaw half (two in the lower jaw of Mustela africana).

<==Mustela Linné 1758 (see below for synonymy) C57
    |--M. vison AF86
    |    |--M. v. vison B75
    |    `--M. v. letifera Hollister 1913 B75
    `--+--M. (Mustela) AF86
       |    |--M. (M.) nivalis AF86
       |    |    |--M. n. nivalis AF86
       |    |    |--M. n. campestris Jackson 1913 B75
       |    |    |--M. n. namiyei Kuroda 1921 I92
       |    |    |--M. n. rixosa AF86
       |    |    `--M. n. vulgaris K84
       |    `--+--*M. (M.) erminea Linnaeus 1758 C57, AF86, M76
       |       |    |--M. e. erminea I92
       |       |    |--M. e. bangsi Hall 1945 B75
       |       |    |--M. e. nippon Cabrera 1913 I92
       |       |    `--M. e. orientalis Ognev 1928 I92
       |       `--M. (M.) frenata AF86 [=Putorius (Gale) brasiliensis frenatus C57]
       |            |--M. f. frenata AF86
       |            |--M. f. affinis Gray 1874 (see below for synonymy) C57
       |            |--M. f. agilis Tschudi 1844 C57
       |            |--M. f. arizonensis AF86
       |            |--M. f. aureoventris Gray 1864 (see below for synonymy) C57
       |            |--M. f. boliviensis Hall 1938 C57
       |            |--M. f. goldmani G69
       |            |--M. f. helleri Hall 1935 H35
       |            |--M. f. leucoparia (Merriam 1896) MB86
       |            |--M. f. longicauda B75
       |            |--M. f. macrophonius G69
       |            |--M. f. neomexicana (Barber & Cockerell 1898) MB86
       |            |--M. f. noveboracensis B75
       |            |--M. f. perotae G69
       |            |--M. f. primulina Jackson 1913 B75
       |            `--M. f. spadix (Bangs 1896) [=Putorius longicauda spadix] B75
       `--M. (Putorius) AF86
            |  i. s.: M. (P.) nambianus (Cope 1874) [=Martes nambianus] C77
            |--M. (P.) putorius AF86
            |    |--M. p. putorius AF86
            |    `--M. p. furo AF86
            |--M. (P.) stromeri AF86
            `--+--M. (P.) eversmanni AF86
               |    |--M. e. eversmanni AF86
               |    |--M. e. beringiae Anderson 1977 AF86
               |    `--M. e. michnoi AF86
               `--M. (P.) nigripes (Audubon & Bachman 1851) [=Putorius nigripes] AF86

Mustela incertae sedis:
  M. africana Desmarest 1818 AF86, C57 (see below for synonymy)
  M. altaica K84
  M. felipei [=Grammogale felipei] K84
  M. kathiah K84
  M. lutreola K84
    |--M. l. lutreola B84
    `--M. l. turovi B84
  M. lutreolina K84 [=M. sibirica lutreolina BP87]
  M. macrodon CG99
  M. melampus S66
  M. nudipes K84
    |--M. n. nudipes BP87
    `--M. n. hamakeri BP87
  M. numidica S78
  M. parviloba [incl. Martes mustelinus] C77
  M. sibirica K84
    |--M. s. sibirica M76
    `--M. s. itatsi Temminck 1844 M76
  M. stolzmanni Taczanowski 1881 H35, C57 [=Grammogale africana stolzmanni C57, M. africana stolzmanni C57]
  M. strigidorsa K84

Inorganic: Mustela sibirica minilorientalis Okamura 1987 O87

Mustela Linné 1758 [incl. Arctogale Kaup 1829, Eumustela Acloque 1899, Foetorius Blasius 1857, Gale Wagner 1841, Grammogale Cabrera 1940, Neogale Gay 1865] C57

Mustela africana Desmarest 1818 AF86, C57 [=*Grammogale africana C57, Gymnopus africanus C57; incl. Putorius (Mustela) brasiliensis paraensis C57, Mustela affinis paraensis C57, M. stolzmanni paraensis C57]

Mustela frenata affinis Gray 1874 [incl. M. affinis costaricensis Allen 1916, M. frenata meridana Hollister 1914] C57

Mustela frenata aureoventris Gray 1864 [=M. aureiventris, Putorius (Arctogale) aureoventris; incl. P. (Gale) brasiliensis var. aequatorialis Coues 1877, Mustela jelskii Taczanowski 1881, M. frenata macrura Taczanowski 1874, Putorius macrurus] C57

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AF86] Anderson, E., S. C. Forrest, T. W. Clark & L. Richardson. 1986. Paleobiology, biogeography, and systematics of the black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes (Audubon & Bachman), 1851. Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs 8: 11–62.

[B84] Birks, J. D. S. 1984. Mink. In: Macdonald, D. (ed.) All the World’s Animals: Carnivores pp. 108–109. Torstar Books Inc.: New York.

[B75] Bowles, J. B. 1975. Distribution and biogeography of mammals of Iowa. Special Publications, The Museum, Texas Tech University 9: 1–184.

[BP87] Burton, J. A., & B. Pearson. 1987. Collins Guide to the Rare Mammals of the World. Collins: London.

[C57] Cabrera, A. 1957. Catalogo de los mamiferos de America del Sur. I (Metatheria—Unguiculata—Carnivora). Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” e Instituto Nacional de Investigacion de Las Ciencias Naturales, Ciencias Zoológicas 4 (1): 1–307.

[CG99] Carlton, J. T., J. B. Geller, M. L. Reaka-Kudla & E. A. Norse. 1999. Historical extinctions in the sea. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 30: 315–338.

[C77] Cope, E. D. 1877. Report upon the extinct Vertebrata obtained in New Mexico by parties of the expedition of 1874. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian 4 (2): i–iv, 1–370.

[G69] Goodwin, G. G. 1969. Mammals from the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, in the American Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 141 (1): 1–269, 40 pls.

[H35] Hall, E. R. 1935. A new weasel from Peru. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 48: 143–145.

[I92] Iwahashi, J. (ed.) 1992. Reddo Deeta Animaruzu: a pictorial of Japanese fauna facing extinction. JICC: Tokyo.

[K84] King, C. M. 1984. Weasels and polecats. In: Macdonald, D. (ed.) All the World’s Animals: Carnivores pp. 102–107. Torstar Books Inc.: New York.

[M76] Masui, M. 1976. Nihon no Doobutsu. Kogakukan: Tokyo.

[MB86] Matson, J. O. & R. H. Baker. 1986. Mammals of Zacatecas. Special Publications, Museum of Texas Tech University 24: 1–88.

[O87] Okamura, C. 1987. New facts: Homo and all Vertebrata were born simultaneously in the former Paleozoic in Japan. Original Report of the Okamura Fossil Laboratory 15: 347–573.

[S78] Savage, R. J. G. 1978. Carnivora. In: Maglio, V. J., & H. B. S. Cooke (eds) Evolution of African Mammals pp. 249–267. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[S66] Sclater, P. L. 1866. Exhibition of a collection of mammals and birds from Japan. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 80–81.