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The Mustelidae (; from Latin mustela, weasel) are a diverse family of mammals, including , , , , , , and . Otherwise known as mustelids (), they form the largest family in the suborder of the order with about 66 to 70 species in nine subfamilies.


Variety
Mustelids vary greatly in size and behaviour. The smaller variants of the can be under in length, while the of Amazonian South America can measure up to and can exceed in weight. can crush bones as thick as the femur of a to get at the , and have been seen attempting to drive away from their kills. The sea otter uses rocks to break open shellfish to eat. are largely , while dig extensive tunnel networks, called . Only one mustelid has been domesticated; the . are also kept as pets (although they require a Dangerous Wild Animals licence in the UK), or as working animals for hunting or vermin control. Others have been important in the —the is often .

Being one of the most species-rich families in the order Carnivora, the family Mustelidae also is one of the oldest. Mustelid-like forms first appeared about 40 million years ago (Mya), roughly coinciding with the appearance of . The common ancestor of modern mustelids appeared about 18 Mya.


Characteristics
Within a large range of variation, the mustelids exhibit some common characteristics. They are typically small animals with elongated bodies, short legs, short skulls, short, round ears, and thick fur. Mustelids' long, slender body structure is adapted to three main lifestyles: terrestrial, arboreal, and aquatic/semi-aquatic.
(2025). 9780191820519, Oxford University Press.
They exhibit digitigrade or plantigrade locomotion, with five toes on each foot, enabling them to move in different ways (i.e. digging, climbing, swimming).
(2025). 9781421436524, Johns Hopkins university press.
Most mustelids are solitary, nocturnal animals, and are active year-round.
(1984). 9780871968715, Facts on File. .
Their dense fur, often serving as natural camouflage, undergoes seasonal changes to help them adjust to varying environmental conditions.

With the exception of the sea otter they have anal scent glands that produce a strong-smelling secretion the animals use for sexual signalling and marking territory.

Mustelids exhibit sexual dimorphism, with males being larger than females, but degree varies between species as well as geographically within species. Male mustelids have a bifurcated penis and baculum. Most mustelid reproduction involves embryonic diapause.Amstislavsky, Sergei, and Yulia Ternovskaya. " Https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f3b8/69a6701e7bb11035119faf36745f0bd0fafc.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Reproduction in mustelids." Animal Reproduction Science 60 (2000): 571–581. The does not immediately implant in the , but remains dormant for some 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 favourable environmental conditions. Reproduction has a large energy cost, so 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 .

Mustelids are predominantly carnivorous, although some eat vegetable matter at times. While not all mustelids share an identical , they all possess teeth adapted for eating flesh, including the presence of shearing . One characteristic trait is a meat-shearing upper-back molar that is rotated 90°, towards the inside of the mouth. With variation between species, the most common is .


Ecology
The fisher, tayra, and martens are partially arboreal, while badgers are . A number of mustelids have aquatic lifestyles, ranging from minks and river otters to the sea otter, which is one of the few nonprimate mammals known to use tools while foraging. It uses "anvil" stones to crack open the shellfish that form a significant part of its diet. It is a "", keeping its prey populations in balance so some do not outcompete the others and destroy the in which they live.

The black-footed ferret is entirely dependent on another keystone species, the . A family of four ferrets eats 250 prairie dogs in a year; this requires a stable population of prairie dogs from an area of some .


Animals of similar appearance
were previously included as a subfamily of the mustelids, but DNA research placed them in their own separate family (Mephitidae). bear a striking resemblance to many mustelids, but belong to a distinctly different suborder—the (all those carnivores sharing more recent origins with the ) and not the (those sharing more recent origins with the ). Because mongooses and mustelids occupy similar , convergent evolution has led to similarity in form and behavior.


Human uses
Several mustelids, including the mink, the (a type of marten), and the (ermine), possess that are considered beautiful and valuable, so have been hunted since prehistoric times. From the early Middle Ages, the was of great economic importance for northern and eastern European nations with large native populations of fur-bearing mustelids, and was a major economic impetus behind Russian expansion into and French and English expansion in North America. In recent centuries , notably of mink, has also become widespread and provides the majority of the fur brought to market.

One species, the ( Neogale macrodon) of New England and Canada, was driven to by fur trappers. Its appearance and habits are almost unknown today because no complete specimens can be found and no systematic contemporary studies were conducted.

The , which has the densest fur of any animal,Perrin, William F., Wursig, Bernd, and , J.G.M. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 2nd ed. Academic Press; 2 edition (December 8, 2008). Page 529. [2] narrowly escaped the fate of the sea mink. The discovery of large populations in the North Pacific was the major economic driving force behind Russian expansion into , the , and , as well as a cause for conflict with and foreign hunters in the . Together with widespread hunting in California and British Columbia, the species was brought to the brink of extinction until an international moratorium came into effect in 1911.

Today, some mustelids are threatened for other reasons. Sea otters are vulnerable to and the indirect effects of overfishing; the black-footed ferret, a relative of the , suffers from the loss of American ; and populations are slowly declining because of habitat destruction and persecution. The rare ( Mustela lutreola) is one of the most mustelid species.

The , a domesticated European polecat, is a fairly common .


Evolution and systematics
Mustelidae is a subfamily in , a superfamily of mammals that is united by shared skull and teeth characteristics. Mustelids are believed to have separated from their next closest related family, Procyonidae, around 29 million years ago. The oldest known mustelid from North America is wolsani from the early and late Oligocene (early and late , Ar1–Ar3) of . Middle Oligocene Mustelictis from Europe might be a mustelid, as well. Other early fossils of the mustelids were dated at the end of the Oligocene to the beginning of the Miocene. Which of these forms are Mustelidae ancestors and which should be considered the first mustelids is unclear.

The fossil record indicates that mustelids appeared in the late Oligocene period (33 Mya) in Eurasia and migrated to every continent except Antarctica and Australia (all the continents that were connected during or since the early Miocene). They reached the Americas via the Bering land bridge.

The 68 recent mustelids (66 extant species) are classified into eight subfamilies in 22 genera:

Subfamily

Subfamily

Subfamily

Subfamily

  • Genus
    • Vietnam ferret-badger, M. cucphuongensis
    • Bornean ferret-badger, M. everetti
    • Chinese ferret-badger, M. moschata
    • Javan ferret-badger, M. orientalis
    • Burmese ferret-badger, M. personata
    • Formosan ferret-badger, M. subaurantiaca

Subfamily

Subfamily

Subfamily ()

  • Genus
    • African clawless otter, A. capensis
    • Asian small-clawed otter, A. cinerea
    • Congo clawless otter, A. congicus
  • Genus
  • Genus
    • North American river otter, L. canadensis
    • , L. felina
    • Neotropical otter, L. longicaudis
    • Southern river otter, L. provocax
  • Genus
  • Genus
    • Spotted-necked otter, H. maculicollis
  • Genus
    • Smooth-coated otter, L. perspicillata
  • Genus

Subfamily (weasels, ferrets, and mink)

Fossil mustelids Extinct genera of the family Mustelidae include:


Phylogeny
Multigene phylogenies constructed by Koepfli et al. (2008) and Law et al. (2018) found that Mustelidae comprises eight living subfamilies. The early mustelids appear to have undergone two rapid bursts of diversification in Eurasia, with the resulting species spreading to other continents only later.

File:MustelidaePhylogeneticTree (edited).jpg|Phylogenetic tree of Mustelidae. Contains 53 of the 79 putative mustelid species. File:Mustelidae timetree (edited).jpg|Time-calibrated tree of Mustelidae showing divergence times between lineages. Split times include: 28.8 million years () for mustelids vs. procyonids; 17.8 Ma for Taxidiinae; 15.5 Ma for Mellivorinae; 14.8 Ma for Melinae; 14.0 Ma for Guloninae + Helictidinae; 11.5 Ma for Guloninae + Naquinae vs. Helictidinae; 12.0 Ma for Ictonychinae; 11.6 Ma for Lutrinae vs. Mustelinae.

Mustelid species diversity is often attributed to an adaptive radiation coinciding with the mid-Miocene climate transition. Contrary to expectations, Law et al. (2018) found no evidence for rapid bursts of lineage diversification at the origin of the Mustelidae, and further analyses of lineage diversification rates using molecular and fossil-based methods did not find associations between rates of lineage diversification and mid-Miocene climate transition as previously hypothesized.


See also
  • List of heaviest extant mustelids


Further reading


External links

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