Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758

W. Christopher Wozencraft, 1993, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 279-348 : 323-324

Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758 . Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1:46 .

TYPE LOCALITY: "inter Europae rupes et lapidum acervos", restricted by Thomas (1911a) to " Scania, S. Sweden."

DISTRIBUTION: Europe (excluding Ireland and most of Scandinavia), east to the Ural Mtns.

SYNONYMS: ambigua Mearns, 1897 ; angustifrons Howell, 1902 ; bicolor Gray, 1837 ; gracilis Merriam, 1890 ; interrupta Rafinesque, 1820 ; larvatus Hodgson, 1849 ; leucoparia Merriam, 1890; lucasona Merriam, 1890; microdon Howell, 1906 ; mupurita Müller, 1776; olimpica Elliot, 1899; phenax Merriam, 1890; putida Cuvier, 1798 ; quaterlinearis Winans, 1859; ringens Merriams, 1890; saxatalis Merriam, 1890; striata Shaw, 1800 ; tenuis Howell, 1902; texensis Merriam, 1890 ; tibetanus Horsfield, 1851; zorilla Schreber, 1776.

COMMENTS: Reviewed by Heptner (in Heptner and Naumov, 1967). Probable ancestor of domestic ferret, furo ( Rempe, 1970; Volobuev, 1971). Youngman (1982) placed putorius in the subgenus Putorius . Pocock (19366) and Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1966) considered eversmannii and putorius conspecific; however, Ognev (1931), Stroganov (1962), and Heptner (in Heptner and Naumov, 1967), recognized them as distinct species.