Sthenictis

Sthenictis
Sthenictis sp. (American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Genus:	Sthenictis Peterson, 1910
species
Sthenictis bellus Matthew, 1932 Sthenictis campestris Gregory, 1942 Sthenictis dolichops Matthew, 1924 Sthenictis junturensis Shotwell & Russell, 1963 Sthenictis lacota (Matthew & Gidley, 1904) Sthenictis neimengguensis Tseng et al. 2009 Sthenictis robustus (Cope, 1890)
Synonyms
Brachygale Peterson, 1910

Sthenictis campestris jaw

Sthenictis is an extinct genus in the weasel family (mustelids) endemic to North America and Asia during the Miocene epoch living from ~13.5—9.2 Ma (AEO) existing for approximately 4.3 million years.

Taxonomy

Sthenictis was named by Peterson (1910). It was assigned to Mustelidae by Peterson (1910) and Carroll (1988); and to Ischyrictini by Baskin (1998).

Morphology

Two specimens were examined for body mass by Legendre and Roth^[1] 1988:

• Specimen 1 weighed an estimated 13.7 kg (30 lb)
• Specimen 2 weighed an estimated 5.98 kg (13 lb)

Fossil distribution

The oldest specimen was uncovered at Black Butte, Malheur County, Oregon.^[2] Other locations are: Quatal Canyon, Ventura County, California, Kleinfelder Farm, Saskatchewan, Canada, Nebraska, Texas, Florida and in Inner Mongolia, in China.^[3]

References

1. S. Legendre and C. Roth. 1988. Correlation of carnassial tooth size and body weight in recent carnivores (Mammalia). Historical Biology 1(1):85-98
2. PaleoDB collection 18825: authorized by John Alroy, entered by J. Alroy on February 18, 1993
3. Tseng Z. J., O’Connor J. K., Wang X. & Prothero D. R. 2009. — The first Old World occurrence of the North American mustelid Sthenictis (Mammalia, Carnivora). Geodiversitas 31 (4) : 743-751.