Mustela eversmanii beringiae

Mustela eversmanii beringiae
Skull and jaw of a fossil
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Genus:	Mustela
Species:	M. eversmanii
Subspecies:	†M. e. beringiae
Trinomial name
†Mustela eversmanii beringiae (Anderson, 1973)

Mustela eversmanii beringiae is a fossil subspecies of the steppe polecat. It was the largest subspecies of steppe polecat and was larger than the largest extant subspecies, the Baikal steppe polecat. ^[1] This polecat subspecies inhabited the unglaciated steppes of Beringia, and may have migrated southwards to give rise to the black-footed ferret. ^[2] It became extinct during the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions.

References

1. Seal, Ulysses S. (1989-01-01). Conservation Biology and the Black-footed Ferret. Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0-300-04123-1.
2. Jachowski, David S. (2014-03-28). Wild Again: The Struggle to Save the Black-Footed Ferret. Univ of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-95816-6.