Musteloidea

Musteloidea; Temporal range: Oligocene–Present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
	Left-right: spotted skunk, red panda, wolverine and raccoon; representing the families Mephitidae, Ailuridae, Mustelidae and Procyonidae.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Parvorder:	Mustelida
Superfamily:	Musteloidea ; Fischer, 1817
Families
	Ailuridae ; Mephitidae ; Mustelidae (type); Procyonidae ; Incertae sedis † Peignictis ; ;

Last updated July 21, 2025

Musteloidea is a superfamily of carnivoran mammals united by shared characteristics of the skull and teeth. Musteloids are the sister group of pinnipeds, the group which includes seals.^[1]

Musteloidea comprises the following families:

Ailuridae, the red panda (and its extinct kin).

Mephitidae, the skunks and stink badgers.

Mustelidae, the weasel (mustelid) family, including new- and old-world badgers, ferrets and polecats, fishers, grisons and ratels, martens and sables, minks, river and sea otters, stoats and ermines, tayras and wolverines.

Procyonidae, the raccoons and raccoon-like procyonids, including coatimundis, kinkajous, olingos, olinguitos, ringtails and cacomistles.

In North America, ursids (bears) and musteloids first appeared in the Chadronian ^{[ citation needed ]} of the late Eocene, and in early-Oligocene Europe, immediately following the Grande Coupure extinction event.

The following cladogram is based on molecular phylogeny of six genes in Flynn (2005),^[2] with the musteloids updated following the multigene analysis of Law et al. (2018).^[3]

Caniformia

Canidae (dogs and other canines)

Arctoidea

Ursidae (bears)

Pinnipedia (seals)

Musteloidea

Mephitidae (skunks)

Ailuridae (red pandas)

	Procyonidae (raccoons, coatis, kinkajous)

	Mustelidae (weasels, otters, badgers)

("weasel" superfamily)

References

↑ Welsey-Hunt, G.D. & Flynn, J.J. (2005). "Phylogeny of the Carnivora: basal relationships among the Carnivoramorphans, and assessment of the position of 'Miacoidea' relative to Carnivora". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 3 (1): 1–28. Bibcode:2005JSPal...3....1W. doi:10.1017/S1477201904001518.
↑ Flynn, J. J.; Finarelli, J. A.; Zehr, S.; Hsu, J.; Nedbal, M. A. (2005). "Molecular phylogeny of the Carnivora (Mammalia): Assessing the impact of increased sampling on resolving enigmatic relationships". Systematic Biology. 54 (2): 317–37. doi: 10.1080/10635150590923326 . PMID 16012099.
↑ Law, Chris J.; Slater, Graham J.; Mehta, Rita S. (2018-01-01). "Lineage Diversity and Size Disparity in Musteloidea: Testing Patterns of Adaptive Radiation Using Molecular and Fossil-Based Methods". Systematic Biology. 67 (1): 127–144. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syx047 . ISSN 1063-5157. PMID 28472434.

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[Hunt2005-1] Welsey-Hunt, G.D. & Flynn, J.J. (2005). "Phylogeny of the Carnivora: basal relationships among the Carnivoramorphans, and assessment of the position of 'Miacoidea' relative to Carnivora". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 3 (1): 1–28. Bibcode:2005JSPal...3....1W. doi:10.1017/S1477201904001518.

[Flynn2005-2] Flynn, J. J.; Finarelli, J. A.; Zehr, S.; Hsu, J.; Nedbal, M. A. (2005). "Molecular phylogeny of the Carnivora (Mammalia): Assessing the impact of increased sampling on resolving enigmatic relationships". Systematic Biology. 54 (2): 317–37. doi: 10.1080/10635150590923326 . PMID 16012099.

[Law-2018-3] Law, Chris J.; Slater, Graham J.; Mehta, Rita S. (2018-01-01). "Lineage Diversity and Size Disparity in Musteloidea: Testing Patterns of Adaptive Radiation Using Molecular and Fossil-Based Methods". Systematic Biology. 67 (1): 127–144. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syx047 . ISSN 1063-5157. PMID 28472434.

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