Conepatus

Amazonian skunk Conepatus semistriatus, photographed by Leo Caetano.

Belongs within: Musteloidea.

The genus Conepatus contains the hog-nosed skunks, found in South America and north to the southern United States, generally in rugged terrain. Hog-nosed skunks have black underparts with a broad white stripe on the back and white tail, and a bare elongate snout, as well as large claws for digging (Voigt 1984). They are primarily insectivorous, using the bare snout to root in the ground in search of prey.

<==Conepatus Gray 1837 [incl. Marputius Gray 1837, Oryctogale Merriam 1902, Ozolictis, Thiosmus Lichtenstein 1838] C57
    |--*C. humboldtii Gray 1837 (see below for synonymy) C57
    |--C. castaneus (D’Orbigny & Gervais 1847) C57 [=Mephitis castaneus C57, C. humboldti castaneus BP87]
    |    |--C. c. castaneus (D’Orbigny & Gervais 1847) [incl. C. proteo gaucho Thomas 1927] C57
    |    `--C. c. proteus Thomas 1902 [=C. castaneus proteo] C57
    |--C. chinga (Molina 1782) [=Viverra chinga, V. chingha, V. chinghe] C57
    |    |--C. c. chinga (see below for synonymy) C57
    |    |--C. c. budini Thomas 1919 [incl. C. calurus Thomas 1919] C57
    |    |--C. c. gibsoni Thomas 1910 [=C. suffocans gibsoni; incl. C. suffocans pampanus Thomas 1921] C57
    |    |--C. c. mendosus Thomas 1921 [=C. suffocans mendosus; incl. C. suffocans enuchus Thomas 1927] C57
    |    `--C. c. suffocans (Illiger 1815) (see below for synonymy) C57
    |--C. leuconotus V84
    |--C. mesoleucus MB86
    |    |--C. m. mesoleucus MB86
    |    |--C. m. filipensis G69
    |    |--C. m. mearnsi Merriam 1902 MB86
    |    `--C. m. sonoriensis Merriam 1902 MB86
    |--C. rex Thomas 1898 C57
    |    |--C. r. rex (see below for synonymy) C57
    |    `--C. r. inca Thomas 1900 C57
    `--C. semistriatus (Boddaert 1785) [=Viverra semistriata] C57
         |--C. s. semistriatus (see below for synonymy) C57
         |--C. s. amazonicus (Lichtenstein 1838) (see below for synonymy) C57
         |--C. s. conepatl G69
         |--C. s. quitensis (Humboldt 1812) (see below for synonymy) C57
         |--C. s. taxinus Thomas 1924 [=C. inca taxinus] C57
         `--C. s. zorrino Thomas 1901 C57

Conepatus chinga chinga (Molina 1782) [incl. Viverra chilensis Geoffroy 1803, C. chilensis, Mephitis (Thiosmus) chilensis, M. chiliensis, M. nasutus var. chilensis, M. dimidiata Fischer 1814, M. furcata Wagner 1841] C57

Conepatus chinga suffocans (Illiger 1815) [=Gulo suffocans, Mephitis (Thiosmus) suffocans; incl. M. feuillei Gervais 1841, Conepatus suffocans feuillei, C. mapurito monzoni Aplin 1894] C57

*Conepatus humboldtii Gray 1837 [=C. nasutus var. humboldtii; incl. Mephitis (Thiosmus) patagonica Lichtenstein 1838, M. patachonica] C57

Conepatus rex rex Thomas 1898 [incl. C. ajax Thomas 1913, C. arequipae Thomas 1898, C. chorensis Thomas 1902, C. hunti Thomas 1903, C. porcinus Thomas 1902] C57

Conepatus semistriatus amazonicus (Lichtenstein 1838) [=Mephitis (Thiosmus) amazonica; incl. C. chilensis bahiensis Ihering 1911, C. nasutus var. chilensis Gray 1865 non Viverra chilensis Geoffroy 1803, Thiosmus chilensis non (Geoffroy 1803), Mephitis westermanni Reinhardt 1856] C57

Conepatus semistriatus quitensis (Humboldt 1812) [=Gulo quitensis, C. (Marputius) quitensis, Mephitis (Thiosmus) quitensis] C57

Conepatus semistriatus semistriatus (Boddaert 1785) [incl. Mephitis gumillae Lichtenstein 1838, C. gumillae, M. gumillaei, Viverra mapurito Gmelin 1788 non Müller 1776, Conepatus mapurito, Gulo mapurito, Mephitis mapurito, M. zorilla Fischer 1829] C57

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[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.

[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.

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

[V84] Voigt, D. R. 1984. Skunks. In: Macdonald, D. (ed.) All the World’s Animals: Carnivores pp. 114–115. Torstar Books Inc.: New York.