Belongs within: Mustelinae.
Contains: Mustela erminea.
The genus Mustela contains the weasels, stoats, polecats and mink—small predators native to Eurasia and North and South America. The weasels and stoats (M. nivalis, M. erminea and related species) 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). The American mink M. vison is a particularly large, stocky, semi-aquatic species native to North America but also introduced to a number of other regions in relation to fur-farming.
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 Linnaeus 1758 (see below for synonymy)C57
|--+--+--M. macrodonCG99 [=Neovison macrodonFS15]
| | `--M. visonAF86 [=Neovison visonFS15]
| | |--M. v. visonB75
| | `--M. v. letifera Hollister 1913B75
| `--+--M. frenataFS15 [=Putorius (Gale) brasiliensis frenatusC57]
| | |--M. f. frenataAF86
| | |--M. f. affinis Gray 1874 [incl. M. affinis costaricensis Allen 1916, M. frenata meridana Hollister 1914]C57
| | |--M. f. agilis Tschudi 1844C57
| | |--M. f. arizonensisAF86
| | |--M. f. aureoventris Gray 1864 (see below for synonymy)C57
| | |--M. f. boliviensis Hall 1938C57
| | |--M. f. goldmaniG69
| | |--M. f. helleri Hall 1935H35
| | |--M. f. leucoparia (Merriam 1896)MB86
| | |--M. f. longicaudaB75
| | |--M. f. macrophoniusG69
| | |--M. f. neomexicana (Barber & Cockerell 1898)MB86
| | |--M. f. noveboracensisB75
| | |--M. f. perotaeG69
| | |--M. f. primulina Jackson 1913B75
| | `--M. f. spadix (Bangs 1896) [=Putorius longicauda spadix]B75
| `--+--M. africana Desmarest 1818FS15, C57 (see below for synonymy)
| `--M. felipeiFS15 [=Grammogale felipeiK84]
`--+--+--M. nudipesFS15
| | |--M. n. nudipesBP87
| | `--M. n. hamakeriBP87
| `--M. strigidorsaFS15
`--+--M. kathiahFS15
`--+--*M. ermineaC57, FS15
`--+--+--M. altaicaFS15
| `--+--M. nivalisFS15 [=Ictis nivalisB-H00a, Putorius nivalisB-H00a]
| | |--M. n. nivalisAF86
| | |--‘Putorius’ n. boccamela Bechstein 1801B-H00a
| | |--M. n. campestris Jackson 1913B75
| | |--‘Putorius’ n. caucasicus Barrett-Hamilton 1900B-H00a
| | |--‘Putorius’ n. ibericus Barrett-Hamilton 1900B-H00a
| | |--‘Putorius’ n. italicus Barrett-Hamilton 1900B-H00a
| | |--M. n. namiyei Kuroda 1921I92
| | |--‘Putorius’ n. numidicus Pueheran 1855B-H00a [=Mustela numidicaS78]
| | |--‘Putorius’ n. pallidus Barrett-Hamilton 1900B-H00a
| | |--M. n. rixosaAF86
| | |--‘Putorius’ n. siculus Barrett-Hamilton 1900B-H00a
| | |--‘Putorius’ n. stoliczkanus Blanford 1877B-H00a
| | `--M. n. vulgaris (Erxleben 1777)K84, B-H00a (see below for synonymy)
| `--M. subpalmata (Hemprich & Ehrenberg 1833)FS15, B-H00a [=Putorius nivalis subpalmatusB-H00a]
`--+--M. lutreolinaFS15 [=M. sibirica lutreolinaBP87]
`--+--+--M. itatsi Temminck 1844FS15, M76 [=M. sibirica itatsiM76]
| `--M. sibiricaFS15
`--M. (Putorius)AF86
| i. s.: M. (P.) nambianus (Cope 1874) [=Martes nambianus]C77
| M. (P.) stromeriAF86
|--+--M. (P.) eversmanniAF86, FS15
| | |--M. e. eversmanniAF86
| | |--M. e. beringiae Anderson 1977AF86
| | `--M. e. michnoiAF86
| `--M. (P.) putorius Linnaeus 1758AF86, FS15, GC-BG04
| |--M. p. putoriusAF86
| `--M. p. furo Linnaeus 1758AF86, GC-BG04
`--+--M. lutreolaFS15
| |--M. l. lutreolaB84
| `--M. l. turoviB84
`--M. (P.) nigripes (Audubon & Bachman 1851)AF86, FS15, AF86 [=Putorius nigripesAF86]
Mustela incertae sedis:
‘Putorius’ alpinusB-H00a
M. foinaB-H00b
|--M. f. foinaB-H00b
`--M. f. mediterraneaB-H00b
M. gulo Linnaeus 1758L58
M. martes Linnaeus 1758L58
M. melampusS66
M. minxJ23
M. parviloba [incl. Martes mustelinus]C77
M. stolzmanni Taczanowski 1881H35, C57 [=Grammogale africana stolzmanniC57, M. africana stolzmanniC57]
M. transitoriaA05
M. zibellina Linnaeus 1758L58
M. zorillaG41
Inorganic: Mustela sibirica minilorientalis Okamura 1987O87
Mustela Linnaeus 1758 [incl. Arctogale Kaup 1829, Eumustela Acloque 1899, Foetorius Blasius 1857, Gale Wagner 1841, Grammogale Cabrera 1940, Neogale Gay 1865]C57
Mustela africana Desmarest 1818FS15, C57 [=*Grammogale africanaC57, Gymnopus africanusC57, Putorius nivalis africanusB-H00a; incl. Putorius (Mustela) brasiliensis paraensisC57, Mustela affinis paraensisC57, M. stolzmanni paraensisC57]
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
Mustela nivalis vulgaris (Erxleben 1777)K84, B-H00a [=Putorius nivalis vulgarisB-H00a; incl. P. minutus Pomel 1853B-H00a]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[A05] Ameghino, F. 1905. La perforation astragalienne sur quelques mammifères du Miocène moyen de France. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 41–58.
[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.
[B-H00a] Barrett-Hamilton, G. E. H. 1900a. Note on the weasel, Putorius (Ictis) nivalis, Linn., and some of its subspecies. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 5: 41–50.
[B-H00b] Barrett-Hamilton, G. E. H. 1900b. Note on the common hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus, Linnaeus) and its subspecies or local variations. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 5: 360–368.
[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.
[FS15] Faurby, S., & J.-C. Svenning. 2015. A species-level phylogeny of all extant and late Quaternary extinct mammals using a novel heuristic-hierarchical Bayesian approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 14–26.
[GC-BG04] Gentry, A., J. Clutton-Brock & C. P. Groves. 2004. The naming of wild animal species and their domestic derivatives. Journal of Archaeological Science 31: 645–651.
[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.
[G41] Gulliver, G. 1841. Observations on the blood-corpuscles of the order Ferae. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 9: 42–44.
[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.
[J23] James, E. 1823. Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and ’20, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, sec’y of war: under the command of Major Stephen H. Long. From the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the exploring party vol. 1. H. C. Carey & I. Lea: Philadelphia.
[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.
[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.
[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.