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.

Published as part of Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Carnivora, pp. 532-628 in Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore :The Johns Hopkins University Press on page 620, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7316519