Mustelidae

The Mustelidae are a diverse family of carnivoran mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, sea otters, polecats, martens, grisons and wolverines. Otherwise known as mustelids, they form the largest family in the suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora with between 66 to 70 species in nine subfamilies.

Mustelidae

MathKnight · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
mustelid carnivorePBDB
Sits inside
MustelidaPBDB
Diet
carnivore, omnivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 5 of 1709 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 29 of 1709 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 627 of 1709 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 240 of 1709 occurrencesPleistocene — about 713 of 1709 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 1 occurrence35–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence33–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–28 Mya — about 2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 4 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 5 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 8 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 16 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 19 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 21 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 27 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 40 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 62 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 59 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 58 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 56 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 62 occurrences9.8–8.4 Mya — about 60 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 69 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 70 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 96 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 135 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 207 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 623 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

1,709 occurrences of Mustelidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,709 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

229 formations

Glenns Ferry — 42.80°N, 114.90°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 118.00°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.60°N, 98.00°WValentine — 43.30°N, 100.65°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 41.40°N, 102.40°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 99.70°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.68°N, 102.68°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WAlachua — 29.10°N, 82.30°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WHarrison — 43.30°N, 102.50°WHarrison — 43.00°N, 104.50°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WHarrison — 42.00°N, 104.20°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 108.20°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.27°EOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WOgallala — 39.80°N, 99.40°WOgallala — 36.70°N, 101.40°WOgallala — 39.08°N, 99.75°WOgallala — 40.05°N, 100.90°WOgallala — 39.67°N, 100.85°WOgallala — 39.95°N, 99.53°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.83°N, 119.74°WJohn Day — 44.33°N, 119.57°WJohn Day — 44.59°N, 119.63°WMarsland — 42.42°N, 103.87°WMarsland — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMarsland — 42.00°N, 104.20°WMarsland — 43.00°N, 104.50°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WLukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°ELukeino — 0.75°N, 35.87°ELukeino — 0.12°N, 34.94°ERosebud — 43.18°N, 102.30°WRosebud — 43.30°N, 102.50°WWood Mountain — 49.17°N, 105.99°WWood Mountain — 49.20°N, 106.20°WMascall — 44.50°N, 119.30°WMascall — 44.52°N, 119.71°WMascall — 44.09°N, 120.01°WMascall — 44.00°N, 120.13°WMascall — 44.90°N, 120.20°WKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.15°N, 36.40°ERunningwater — 42.70°N, 102.72°WRunningwater — 42.80°N, 103.10°WEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°EPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WFleming — 31.10°N, 93.10°WFleming — 31.00°N, 93.40°WMadison Valley — 45.93°N, 111.29°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mustelidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 205 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,054 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mustelidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Mustelidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,983 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1,083 sites for Mustelidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

696 references

Each of the 1,709 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 684 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Mustelidae

Credit
MathKnight
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Mustelidae indet. · UMZC:Vertebrates:K.2361

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMustelida through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Batsch 1788