The least weasel (Mustela nivalis Linnaeus, 1766) is the world’s smallest carnivore (King & Powell 2007) and probably one of the most difficult to detect (García & Mateos 2009). It is widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere (McDonald et al. 2016), and seems to be a common and relatively abundant species, at least in some areas of the European continent (Larivière & Jennins 2009, Tikhonov et al. 2010). However, many basic aspects of its biology, distribution, population dynamics and ecology remain largely unknown in most areas of its range, a lack of information that is especially striking in Spain (Palazón 2017).

Julio Domínguez was supported by a predoctoral grant: “Programa Talento Formación” funded by Fondo Social Europeo (FSE) and Castilla La Mancha regional government (JCCM). Francisco Díaz-Ruiz was supported by a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral contract (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Funder Id: 10.13039/501100004837, FJCI-2015-24949) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. Financial support was provided by MINECO (CGL2011-30274, CGL2015-71255-P), Fundación Biodiversidad and Fundación BBVA (TOPIGEPLA).

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