Musteloidea

Musteloidea Temporal range: Oligocene–Present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Left-right: spotted skunk, red panda, wolverine and raccoon; representing the families Mephitidae, Ailuridae, Mustelidae and Procyonidae.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Caniformia
Clade:	Canoidea
Infraorder:	Arctoidea
Parvorder:	Mustelida
Superfamily:	Musteloidea Fischer, 1817
Families
Ailuridae Amphictidae Mephitidae Mustelidae (type) Procyonidae Incertae sedis †Huntictis †Peignictis

Musteloidea is a superfamily of carnivoran mammals united by shared characteristics of the skull and teeth. Musteloids are the sister group of pinnipeds, the group which includes seals and allies.^{[clarification needed]}

Taxonomy

Musteloidea comprises the following families:

• Ailuridae, the red panda (and its extinct kin).

• Mephitidae, skunks and stink badgers.

• Mustelidae, the weasel (mustelid) family, including new- and old-world badgers, ferrets and polecats, fishers, grisons and ratels, martens and sables, minks, river and sea otters, stoats and ermines, tayras and wolverines.

• Procyonidae, raccoons and raccoon-like procyonids, including coatis, kinkajous, olingos, the olinguito, ringtails and cacomistles.

Evolution

In North America, ursids (bears) and musteloids first appeared in the Chadronian^{[citation needed]} of the late Eocene, and in early-Oligocene Europe, immediately following the Grande Coupure extinction event.

The following cladogram is based on molecular phylogeny of six genes in Flynn (2005), with the musteloids updated following the multigene analysis of Law et al. (2018).

References