Musteloidea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Musteloids
Temporal range: Oligocene to present
Mustela frenata.jpg
Long-tailed weasel
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Infraorder: Arctoidea
Superfamily: Musteloidea
Fischer, 1817
Families

Musteloidea is a superfamily of carnivoran mammals united by shared characters of the skull and teeth. Musteloids share a common ancestor with the pinnipeds, the group which includes seals.[1]

The Musteloidea consists of the families Ailuridae (red pandas), Mustelidae (mustelids: weasels, otters, martens, and badgers), Procyonidae (procyonids: raccoons, coatis, kinkajous, olingos, olinguitos, ringtails and cacomistles), and Mephitidae (skunks and stink badgers).

In North America, ursoids and musteloids first appear in the Chadronian[citation needed] (late Eocene). In Europe, ursoids and musteloids first appear in the early Oligocene immediately following the Grande Coupure.

The cladogram is based on molecular phylogeny of six genes in Flynn, 2005.[2]

   Caniformia

Canidae (dogs) African golden wolf

   Arctoidea

Ursidae (bears) American black bear

Pinnipedia (seals) Common seal

   Musteloidea
   

Ailuridae (red panda) Red panda

   

Mephitidae (skunks) Striped skunk

   

Procyonidae (raccoons and allies) Common raccoon

Mustelidae (weasels and allies) European polecat

References[edit]

  1. ^ Welsey-Hunt, G.D. & Flynn, J.J. (2005). "Phylogeny of the Carnivora: basal relationships among the Carnivoramorphans, and assessment of the position of 'Miacoidea' relative to Carnivora". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 3 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1017/S1477201904001518.
  2. ^ Flynn, J. J.; Finarelli, J. A.; Zehr, S.; Hsu, J.; Nedbal, M. A. (2005). "Molecular phylogeny of the Carnivora (Mammalia): Assessing the impact of increased sampling on resolving enigmatic relationships". Systematic Biology. 54 (2): 317–37. doi:10.1080/10635150590923326. PMID 16012099.