Mustela nivalis Linnaeus 1766

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 532-628 : 616

Mustela nivalis Linnaeus 1766

Mustela nivalis Linnaeus 1766 , Syst. Nat., 12th ed., Vol. 1: 69.

Type Locality: " Westrobothnia " [ Sweden].

Vernacular Names: Least Weasel.

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. nivalis Linnaeus 1766

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. allegheniensis Rhoads 1901

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. boccamela Bechstein 1800

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. campestris Jackson 1913

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. caucasica Barrett-Hamilton 1900

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. eskimo Stone 1900

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. heptneri Morozova-Turova 1953

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. mosanensis Mori 1927

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. namiyei Kuroda 1921

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. numidica Pucheran 1855

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. pallida Barrett-Hamilton 1900

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. pygmaea J. A. Allen 1903

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. rixosa Bangs 1896

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. rossica Abramov and Baryshnikov 2000

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. russelliana Thomas 1911

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. stoliczkana Blanford 1877

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. tonkinensis Björkegren 1941

Subspecies Mustela nivalis subsp. vulgaris Erxleben 1777

Distribution: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Corsica, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan (Hokkaido and Honshu), Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand (introduced – Corbet and Hill, 1980), Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sardinia, Serbia and Montenegro, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, USA, (Alaska and most of the USA except SW), Ukraine.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Reviewed by Reichstein (1957), van Zyll de Jong (1992), Reig (1997), and Abramov and Baryshinikov (2000). Reig divided this problematic taxon into four species based on a skull morphometric analysis ( subpalmata , rixosa, eskimo, and vulgaris ). Abramov and Baryshinikov separated only subpalmata . Youngman (1982) placed nivalis in the subgenus Mustela ; Abramov (1999) placed it in the subgenus Gale . Synonyms allocated according to Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951), Hall (1981), Sheffield and King (1994), and Abramov and Baryshnikov (1999).