Palaeomephitis

Palaeomephitis steinheimensis is an extinct species of skunk of the Miocene epoch in Europe. It is the earliest known species of the family Mephitidae.

Palaeomephitis
Temporal range: Middle Miocene
ca. 12 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mephitidae
Genus: Palaeomephitis
Jäger, 1839
Species:
P. steinheimensis
Binomial name
Palaeomephitis steinheimensis
Jäger, 1839
Synonyms

Trochotherium cyamoides
Fraas, 1870

Description

Palaeomephitis steinheimensis was described by Jäger in 1839 from a well-preserved cranium found in Steinheim am Albuch in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany. Subsequently, different authors considered it to represent a viverrid or a leptarctine mustelid. It was placed in the Mephitinae (now considered to be a distinct family) by Wolsan in 1999, on the evidence of its having an extended epitympanic recess to the middle ear.[1]

Taxonomy
 Skunks 
 
 

 † Palaeomephitis

 
 
 

 † Promephitis

 
 

 Stink badgers (Mydaus)

 
 
 
 

 other Mephitidae

 
 

Within the skunks, Palaeomephitis is considered to stand close to the two extant species of stink badger (Mydaus) and the several extinct species of Promephitis. This clade is considered to be a sister group to all other skunks living today and other fossil forms.[2]

References
  1. Mieczysław Wolsan (1999). "Oldest mephitine cranium and its implications for the origin of skunks" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 44 (2): 223–230.
  2. Mikko Haaramo (7 October 2007). "Mustelidae: Mephitinae". Mikko’s Phylogeny Archive. Archived from the original on 2017-01-14. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
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