Information about Mustelidae

Mustelidae
Longtail Weasel Longtail Weasel
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Suborder: Caniformia Family: Mustelidae G. Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
Subfamilies
Lutrinae Melinae Mellivorinae Taxideinae Mustelinae

Mustelidae or Mustelids (from Latin mustela, weasel), commonly referred to as the weasel family, is a family of carnivorous mammals. The Mustelidae is a diverse family and the largest in the order Carnivora, at least partly because it has in the past been a catch-all category for many early or poorly differentiated taxa.^[1]

Variety

The Mustelidae in general are phylogenetically relatively primitive and so were difficult to classify until genetic evidence started to become available. The increasing availability of such evidence may well result in some members of the family being moved to their own separate families, as has already happened with the skunks, previously considered to be members of the mustelid family.

Mustelids vary greatly in size and behavior. The least weasel is not much larger than a mouse. The giant otter can weigh up to 76 lb (34 kg). The wolverine can crush bones as thick as the femur of a moose to get at the marrow, and has been seen attempting to drive bears from kills. The sea otter uses rocks to break open shellfish to eat. The marten is largely arboreal, while the badger digs extensive networks of tunnels, called setts. Some mustelids have been domesticated. The ferret and the tayra are kept as pets, or as working animals for hunting or vermin control. Others have been important in the fur trade. The mink is often raised for its fur.

As well as one of the most species-rich families in the order Carnivora, mustelidae is one of the oldest. Mustelid-like forms first appeared about 40 million years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of rodents. The direct ancestors of the modern mustelids first appeared about 15 million years ago.

Characteristics

Within a large range of variation, the mustelids exhibit some common characteristics.

They are typically small animals with short legs, short round ears, and thick fur. Some mustelids have exquisite furs which have been valuable for many centuries—the mink, the sable (a type of marten) and the ermine (stoat) are all members of the family. This has led to the hunting of these animals, especially in the past. One species, the sea mink (Mustela macrodon) of New England and Canada, was driven to extinction by fur trappers around the same time that the passenger pigeon was declining. Its appearance and habits are almost unknown today because no complete specimens can be found and no systematic contemporary studies were conducted. Today some mustelids are in trouble for other reasons. The sea otter, that almost shared the fate of the sea mink, now risks being destroyed by oil spills and the side effects of overfishing; the black-footed ferret, a relative of the European polecat, suffers from the disappearance of the American prairie; and the wolverine is in a long, slow decline because of habitat destruction and persecution.

Most mustelids are solitary, nocturnal animals, and are active year-round.

Mustelids have anal scent glands that produce a strong-smelling secretion the animals use for sexual signaling and for marking territory. The most developed of these scent glands are found in skunks (Mephitinae), which were moved into a new family, Mephitidae, following a convincing paper (Dragoo and Honeycutt, 1997, Journal of Mammalogy, 78(2): 426-443), that somewhat reorganized these two families based on DNA analyses.

Most mustelid reproduction involves embryonic diapause. The embryo does not immediately implant in the uterus, but remains dormant for a period of time. No development takes place as long as the embryo remains unattached to the uterine lining. As a result, the normal gestation period is extended, sometimes up to a year. This allows the young to be born under more favorable environmental conditions. Reproduction has a large energy cost and it is to a female's benefit to have available food and mild weather. The young are more likely to survive if birth occurs after previous offspring have been weaned.

Ecology

Several members of the family are aquatic to varying degrees, ranging from the semi-aquatic mink, the river otters, and the highly aquatic sea otter. The sea otter is also the only non-primate mammal known to use a tool while foraging. It uses "anvil" stones to crack open the shellfish that form a significant part of its diet. It is a "keystone species," keeping its prey populations in balance so some do not outcompete the others and they do not destroy the kelp in which they live.

The black-footed ferret is entirely dependent on the another keystone species, the prairie dog. A family of four ferrets will eat 250 prairie dogs in a year. The ferrets require a prairie dog colony of 500 acres (2 km²) to maintain a stable population to support their predation.

The Mongoose and the meerkat bear a striking resemblance to many mustelids but belong to a distinctly different suborder - the Feliformia (all those carnivores sharing more recent origins with the Felidae) and not the Caniformia (those sharing more recent origins with the Canidae). Because the mongoose and the mustelids occupy similar ecological niches, convergent evolution has led to some similarity in form and behavior.^[2]

Family

FAMILY MUSTELIDAE (55 species in 24 genera)

• Subfamily Lutrinae (Otters)
• Genus Amblonyx
• Genus Aonyx
• Genus Enhydra (Sea Otter)
• Genus Lontra (American River and Marine Otters)
• Genus Lutra (includes European Otter)
• Genus Hydrictis
• Genus Lutrogale
• Genus Pteronura (Giant Otter)
• Subfamily Melinae (Badgers)
• Genus Arctonyx (Hog Badger)
• Genus Meles (Eurasian Badger)
• Genus Melogale (Ferret Badgers)
• Genus Mydaus (Stink Badgers - considered by some authorities to be part of Mephitidae)
• Subfamily Mellivorinae (Ratels or Honey Badgers)
• Genus Mellivora
• Subfamily Taxideinae (American Badgers)
• Genus Taxidea (American Badger)
• Genus Chamitataxus (Extinct)
• Subfamily Mustelinae
• Genus Eira (Tayra)
• Genus Ekorus (Extinct)
• Genus Galictis (Grisón)
• Genus Gulo (Wolverine)
• Genus Ictonyx (Striped Polecat)
• Genus Lyncodon (Patagonian Weasel)
• Genus Martes (Sable and Martens)
• Genus Mustela - (Weasels, Ferrets, Mink and Stoats)
• Genus Poecilogale (African Striped Weasel)
• Genus Vormela (Marbled Polecat)

See also

• Embryonic diapause

References

•  • [ e] Extant carnivore families by suborder
Feliformia	Nandiniidae
Caniformia	Canidae