Mephitidae is a family of mammals comprising the skunks and stink badgers. They are noted for the great development of their anal scent glands, which they use to deter predators. Skunks were formerly classified as a subfamily of the Mustelidae ; however, in the 1990s, genetic evidence caused skunks to be treated as a separate family. Similarly, the stink badgers had been classified with badgers, but genetic evidence shows they share a more recent common ancestor with skunks, so they are now included in the skunk family. A 2017 study using retroposon markers indicated that they are most closely related to the Ailuridae and Procyonidae.
Amphicyonidae is an extinct family of terrestrial carnivorans belonging to the suborder Caniformia. They first appeared in North America in the middle Eocene, spread to Europe by the late Eocene, and further spread to Asia and Africa by the early Miocene. They had largely disappeared worldwide by the late Miocene, with the latest recorded species at the end of the Miocene in Africa. They were among the first carnivorans to evolve large body size. Amphicyonids are colloquially referred to as "bear-dogs".
Gomphotheres are an extinct group of proboscideans related to modern elephants. First appearing in Africa during the Oligocene, they dispersed into Eurasia and North America during the Miocene and arrived in South America during the Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange. Gomphotheres are a paraphyletic group ancestral to Elephantidae, which contains modern elephants, as well as Stegodontidae.
Carnassials are paired upper and lower teeth modified in such a way as to allow enlarged and often self-sharpening edges to pass by each other in a shearing manner. This adaptation is found in carnivorans, where the carnassials are the modified fourth upper premolar and the first lower molar. These teeth are also referred to as sectorial teeth.
Viverravidae is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Carnivoramorpha, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia. They were once thought to be the earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant ones, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as relatives to extant carnivorans.
Archaeotherium is an extinct genus of entelodont artiodactyl endemic to North America during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. Archaeotherium fossils are most common in the White River Formation of the Great Plains, but it has also been found in the John Day Basin of Oregon and the Trans-Pecos area of Texas.
The John Day Formation is a series of rock strata exposed in the Picture Gorge district of the John Day River basin and elsewhere in north-central Oregon in the United States. The Picture Gorge exposure lies east of the Blue Mountain uplift, which cuts southwest–northeast through the Horse Heaven mining district northeast of Madras. Aside from the Picture Gorge district, which defines the type, the formation is visible on the surface in two other areas: another exposure is in the Warm Springs district west of the uplift, between it and the Cascade Range, and the third is along the south side of the Ochoco Mountains. All three exposures, consisting mainly of tuffaceous sediments and pyroclastic rock rich in silica, lie unconformably between the older rocks of the Clarno Formation below and Columbia River basalts above.
Simocyon is a genus of extinct carnivoran mammal in the family Ailuridae. Simocyon, which was about the size of a mountain lion, lived in the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, and has been found in Europe, Asia, and rarely, North America and Africa.
Humboldt's hog-nosed skunk, also known as the Patagonian hog-nosed skunk, is a species of hog-nosed skunk indigenous to the open grassy areas in the Patagonian regions of South Argentina and Chile. It belongs to the order Carnivora and the family Mephitidae.
Palaearctonyx is an extinct genus of omnivorous placental mammals from clade Carnivoraformes, that lived in North America from the early to middle Eocene.
Palaeolama is an extinct genus of laminoid camelids that existed from the Late Pliocene to the Early Holocene. Their range extended from North America to the intertropical region of South America.
The Monroe Creek Formation is a geologic formation in South Dakota. It preserves fossils dating back to the Paleogene period.
The Sharps Formation is a geologic formation in South Dakota. It preserves fossils dating back to the Paleogene.
The Dove Spring Formation is a geologic formation in the western Mojave Desert of California. It preserves fossils dating back to the Miocene epoch of the Neogene period.
Promephitis is an extinct genus of mephitid, of which several species have been described from the Miocene and early Pliocene of Europe and Asia.
Amphicticeps is an extinct genus of small, weasel-like carnivoran mammal. It lived in Mongolia during the Oligocene. The genus was erected in 1924 for the species A. shackelfordi on the basis of a well-preserved skull. Historically, the systematic position of this genus has been problematic until more specimens were described decades later.
Didymoconus is an extinct genus of mammal that lived during the early Oligocene epoch. It was endemic to Asia, and its fossils have been found in Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan. It is the type genus of the Didymoconidae, a family of eutherian mammals with uncertain taxonomic affinities.
Martinogale is an extinct genus of skunk from the Late Miocene of central North America. There exist three accepted species, M.alveodens, M.chisoensis and M.faulli, which may have overlapped in range but occupied somewhat distinct moments of the Late Miocene. As well as the dubious Martinogale? nambiana.
Osmotherium is an extinct genus of skunk from Pleistocene North America. it contains a single species, Osmotherium spelaeum. The genus name, Osmotherium, hails from Aincient Greek, osmḗ, "smell"; and therium, "beast"; meaning smelly beast. The species name, spelaeum, Latin for "cave", in reference to the sole locality which its remains have been found in, Port Kennedy Bone Cave.
Buisnictis is an extinct genus of skunk from Pliocene North America, ranging all the way from Washington to Baja California. There are currently four accepted species: Buisnictis breviramus, Buisnictis schoffi, Buisnictis burrowsi and Buisnictis metabatos.
