PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Putorius nigripes (black-footed ferret)

Mammalia - Carnivora - Mustelidae

Taxonomy

Putorius nigripes was named by Audubon and Bachman (1851). It is extant.

It was recombined as Mustela nigripes by Schultz and Howard (1935), Kurten and Anderson (1980), Anderson et al. (1986), Mead and Mead (1989).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1851	Putorius nigripes Audubon and Bachman
1935	Mustela nigripes Schultz and Howard p. 283
1980	Mustela nigripes Kurten and Anderson p. 152
1986	Mustela nigripes Anderson et al. p. 15
1989	Mustela nigripes Mead and Mead p. 149

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes

Rank	Name	Author
class	Mammalia
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Boreoeutheria
—	Laurasiatheria
—	Scrotifera
—	Ferae	()
—	Carnivoramorpha	Wyss and Flynn 1993
—	Carnivoraformes	Flynn et al.
order	Carnivora
suborder	Caniformia	Kretzoi 1943
infraorder	Canoidea	(Simpson 1931)
superfamily	Arctoidea	Flower 1869
—	Mustelida
family	Mustelidae	Fischer 1817
subfamily	Mustelinae	Fischer 1817
genus	Putorius
species	nigripes	Audubon and Bachman 1851

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Putorius nigripes Audubon and Bachman 1851 [black-footed ferret]

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Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
E. Anderson et al. 1986	Mustela nigripies is a mink-sized mustelid weighing 645-1125 g. Upper parts yellowish buff, occasionally whitish, espe- cially on the face and venter; feet black; black mask across the eyes, particularly well de- fined in young animals; tail black tipped. Skull is relatively short and broad; mastoid process is notably angular (Hillman and Clark 1980). Closely resembles M. eversmanni, the steppe ferret of Eurasia. Differs from M. putorius, the European ferret,and M.vison, the American mink, in being light colored with black markings; the latter two species are uniformly dark colored, and M. p. furo, the domestic ferret, is uniformly light colored, often albinistic.

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialsubc

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Life habit:

scansorialf

Diet:

carnivoref

Diet 2:

omnivoref

Reproduction:

viviparoussubc

Created:

2005-06-08 10:11:09

Modified:

2005-08-22 19:38:29

Source: f = family, subc = subclass, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Lillegraven 1979, Carroll 1988, Nowak 1991, Hendy et al. 2009, Ji et al. 2002

Collections

No collection or age range data are available