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The long-tailed weasel ( Neogale frenata), also known as the bridled weasel, masked ermine, or big stoat, is a species of weasel found in North America, Central America, and South America. It is distinct from the Stoat ( Mustela erminea), also known as a "stoat", a close relation in the genus Mustela that originated in Eurasia and crossed into North America some Pleistocene; the two species are visually similar, having long, slender bodies and tails with short legs and a black tail tip.
Long-tailed weasels exhibit scale-dependent patterns of habitat selection, favoring forest patches, fencerows, and drainage ditches while avoiding agricultural fields.Gehring, T. M., & Swihart, R. K. (2021). Habitat use by Long-tailed Weasels in a Fragmented Agricultural Landscape. The American Midland Naturalist, 186(1), 136–149. They typically make their habitats in forests and underground in burrows of other small mammals.
The eyes are black in daylight, but glow bright emerald green when caught in a spotlight at night. The dorsal fur is brown in summer, while the underparts are whitish and tinged with yellowish or buffy brown from the chin to the inguinal region. The tail has a distinct black tip. Long-tailed weasels in Florida and the southwestern US may have facial markings of a white or yellowish colour. In northern areas in winter, the long-tailed weasel's fur becomes white, sometimes with yellow tints, but the tail retains its black tip. The long-tailed weasel moults twice annually, once in autumn (October to mid-November) and once in spring (March–April). Each moult takes about 3–4 weeks and is governed by day length and mediated by the pituitary gland. Unlike the stoat, whose soles are thickly furred all year, the long-tailed weasel's soles are naked in summer. The long-tailed weasel has well-developed anal scent glands, which produce a strong and musky odour. Analysis of a dichloromethane extract of the anal gland secretion showed it contained 2,2-dimethylthietane, 2,4-dimethylthietane, 2,3-dimethylthietane, 2-propylthietane, 3,3-dimethyl-1,2-dithiolane, 3-ethyl-1,2-dithiolane, indole and 2-aminoacetophenone. Unlike , which spray their musk, the long-tailed weasel drags and rubs its body over surfaces in order to leave the scent, to mark their territory and, when startled or threatened, to discourage predators. Long-tailed Weasel. Esf.edu. Retrieved on 2014-05-10.
The long-tailed weasel uses one spot to leave their feces. This spot is usually near where they burrow. They'll continuously use this spot for their droppings until it gets covered by environmental changes.
Another common defense of long-tailed weasels is its black-tipped tail, which differs in color from the rest of the body. When the long-tailed weasel becomes more white in the winter, this defense mechanism is especially used. The black-tipped tail distracts predators from the rest of the body, as it is more visible to the eye of a predator. This causes the visibility of the actual weasel to be rather difficult and makes the predator attack the tail instead of the weasel. The weasel is allowed to escape the predator because of this.
The long-tailed weasel is an obligate carnivore which prefers its prey to be fresh or alive, eating only the carrion stored within its burrows. are almost exclusively taken when they are available. Its primary prey consists of mice, , , , , moles and rabbits. Occasionally, it may eat small , bird eggs, , , fish, and some . The species has also been observed to take from nursery colonies. It occasionally Surplus killing, usually in spring when the kits are being fed, and again in autumn. Some of the surplus kills may be cached, but are usually left uneaten. Kits in captivity eat from a quarter to half of their body weight in 24 hours, while adults eat only one fifth to one third. After killing its prey, the long-tailed weasel laps up the blood, but does not suck it, as is popularly believed. With small prey, also the fur, feathers, flesh and bones are consumed, but only some flesh is eaten from large prey. When stealing eggs, the long-tailed weasel removes each egg from its nest one at a time, then carries it in its mouth to a safe location where it bites off the top and licks out the contents or if they have babies in the den they may hold it in their mouth all the way back to them.
| Bridled weasel N. f. frenata (Nominate subspecies) | Lichtenstein, 1831 | A large subspecies with a long tail, relatively short black tip and has a black head with conspicuous white markings | Mexico | aequatorialis (Coues, 1877) brasiliensis (Sevastianoff, 1813) mexicanus (Coues, 1877) |
| N. f. affinis | Gray, 1874 | A large, very dark subspecies with very little white marking on the face | costaricensis (J. A. Allen, 1916) macrurus (J. A. Allen, 1912) meridana (Hollister, 1914) | |
| N. f. agilis | Tschudi, 1844 | macrura (J. A. Allen 1916) | ||
| Black Hills long-tailed weasel N. f. alleni | Merriam, 1896 | Similar to arizonensis in size and general characters, but with yellower upper parts | The Black Hills, South Dakota | |
| N. f. altifrontalis | Hall, 1936 | saturata (Miller, 1912) | ||
| Arizona long-tailed weasel N. f. arizonensis | Mearns, 1891 | Similar to longicauda, but smaller in size | The Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain systems, reaching British Columbia in the Rocky Mountain region | |
| N. f. arthuri | Hall, 1927 | |||
| N. f. aureoventris | Gray, 1864 | affinis (Lönnberg, 1913) jelskii (Taczanowski, 1881) macrura (Taczanowski, 1874) | ||
| Bolivian long-tailed weasel N. f. boliviensis | Hall, 1938 | |||
| N. f. celenda | Hall, 1944 | |||
| Costa Rican long-tailed weasel N. f. costaricensis | Goldman, 1912 | brasiliensis (Gray, 1874) | ||
| N. f. effera | Hall, 1936 | |||
| Chiapas long-tailed weasel N. f. goldmani | Merriam, 1896 | Similar to frenata in size and general characters, but with a longer tail and hind feet, darker fur and more restricted white markings | The mountains of southeastern Chiapas | |
| N. f. gracilis | Brown, 1908 | |||
| N. f. helleri | Hall, 1935 | |||
| Inyo long-tailed weasel N. f. inyoensis | Hall, 1936 | |||
| N. f. latirostra | Hall, 1896 | arizonensis (Grinnell and Swarth, 1913) | ||
| N. f. leucoparia | Merriam, 1896 | Similar to frenata, but slightly larger and with more extensive white markings | ||
| Common long-tailed weasel N. f. longicauda | Bonaparte, 1838 | A large subspecies with a very long tail with a short black tip. The upper parts are pale yellowish brown or pale raw amber brown, while the underparts vary in colour from strong buffy yellow to ochraceous orange. | The Great Plains from Kansas northward | |
| N. f. macrophonius | Elliot, 1905 | |||
| N. f. munda | Bangs, 1899 | |||
| New Mexico long-tailed weasel N. f. neomexicanus | Barber and Cockerell, 1898 | |||
| Nevada long-tailed weasel N. f. nevadensis | Hall, 1936 | longicauda (Coues, 1891) | ||
| Nicaraguan long-tailed weasel N. f. nicaraguae | J. A. Allen, 1916 | |||
| N. f. nigriauris | Hall, 1936 | xanthogenys (Gray, 1874) | ||
| N. f. notiusBangs, 1899 | ||||
| New York long-tailed weasel N. f. noveboracensis | Emmons, 1840 | A large subspecies, with a shorter tail than longicauda. The upper parts are rich, dark chocolate brown, while the underparts and upper lip are white and washed with yellowish colouring. | The eastern United States from southern Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois | fusca (DeKay, 1842) richardsonii (Baird, 1858) |
| N. f. occisor | Bangs, 1899 | |||
| N. f. olivacea | Howell, 1913 | |||
| Oregon long-tailed weasel N. f. oregonensis | Merriam, 1896 | Similar to xanthogenys, but larger, darker in colour and with more restricted facial markings | The Rogue River Valley, Oregon | |
| N. f. oribasus | Bangs, 1899 | |||
| Panama long-tailed weasel N. f. panamensis | Hall, 1932 | |||
| Florida long-tailed weasel N. f. peninsulae | Rhoads, 1894 | Equal in size to noveboracensis, but with a skull more similar to that of longicauda. The upper parts are dull chocolate brown, while the underparts are yellowish. | Peninsular Florida | |
| N. f. perda | Merriam, 1902 | |||
| N. f. perotae | Hall, 1936 | |||
| N. f. primulina | Jackson, 1913 | |||
| N. f. pulchra | Hall, 1936 | |||
| Cascade Mountains long-tailed weasel N. f. saturata | Merriam, 1896 | Similar to arizonensis, but larger and darker, with an ochraceous belly and distinct spots behind the corners of the mouth | The Cascade Range | |
| N. f. spadix | Bangs, 1896 | Similar to longicauda, but much darker | ||
| Texas long-tailed weasel N. f. texensis | Hall, 1936 | |||
| Tropical long-tailed weasel N. f. tropicalis | Merriam, 1896 | Similar to frenata, but much smaller and darker, with less extensive white facial markings and an orange underbelly | The tropical coast belt of southern Mexico and Guatemala from Veracruz southward | frenatus (Coues, 1877) noveboracensis (DeKay, 1840) perdus (Merriam, 1902) richardsoni (Bonaparte, 1838) |
| Washington long-tailed weasel N. f. washingtoni | Merriam, 1896 | Similar to noveboracensis in size, but with a longer tail with a shorter black tip | Washington | |
| California long-tailed weasel N. f. xanthogenys | Gray, 1843 | A medium-sized subspecies with a long tail, a face with whitish markings and ochraceous underparts | The Sonoran and transition faunas of California, on both sides of the Sierra Nevada Mountains |
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