Mephitidae Bonaparte 1845

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 : 620

Mephitidae Bonaparte 1845

Mephitidae Bonaparte 1845 , Cat. Meth. Mamm. Europe: 1.

Synonyms: Myadina Gray 1825 ; Mydaina Gray 1864 .

Genera: 4 genera with 12 species:

Genus Conepatus Gray 1837 (4 species with 19 subspecies)

Genus Mephitis E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and F. G. Cuvier 1795 (2 species with 17 subspecies)

Genus Mydaus F. G. Cuvier 1821 (2 species with 3 subspecies)

Genus Spilogale Gray 1865 (4 species with 18 subspecies)

Discussion: The traditional Mustelidae (including skunks) has always been a problematic group. Radinsky (1973) first proposed a relationship between the Mephitinae (sensu Simpson, 1945) and Mydaus . Morphological studies seem to provide some support for a monophyletic Mustelidae ( Hunt, 1974; Wolsan, 1999; Wozencraft, 1989; Wyss and Flynn, 1993). However, Bryant et al. (1993), Ledje and Arnason (1996), and Bininda-Emonds et al. (1999) showed support for Radinsky's Mephitinae Mydaus group. Dragoo and Honeycutt (1997) and Flynn et al. (2000) provided a thorough review of the relationships of these groups and followed others (Árnason and Widegren, 1986; Ledje and Árnason, 1996; Wayne et al., 1989) in the recognition of a paraphyletic traditional Mustelidae . I have chosen to follow Dragoo and Honeycutt (1997) and Flynn et al. (2000) in the separation of Mephitis , Conepatus , Spilogale and Mydaus from the remaining mustelids. But see Wolsan (1999) for support of a monophyletic Mustelidae .