''Bassariscus'' is a genus in the family

Procyonidae Procyonidae is a New World family of the order Carnivora. It comprises the raccoons, ringtails, cacomistles, coatis, kinkajous, olingos, and olinguitos. Procyonids inhabit a wide range of environments and are generally omnivorous. Character ...

. There are two extant species in the genus: the ring-tailed cat or ringtail (''B. astutus'') and the cacomistle (''B. sumichrasti''). Genetic studies have indicated that the closest relatives of ''Bassariscus'' are raccoons, from which they diverged about 10 million years ago in the Tortonian Age of the Miocene. The two lineages of ''Bassariscus'' are thought to have separated after only another two million years, making it the extant procyonid genus with the earliest diversification. Later diversification in the genus in the Pliocene and Pleistocene saw the emergence of two extinct species, ''

Bassariscus casei ''Bassariscus'' is a genus in the family Procyonidae. There are two extant species in the genus: the ring-tailed cat or ringtail (''B. astutus'') and the cacomistle (''B. sumichrasti''). Genetic studies have indicated that the closest relatives of ...

'' and ''

Bassariscus sonoitensis ''Bassariscus'' is a genus in the family Procyonidae. There are two extant species in the genus: the ring-tailed cat or ringtail (''B. astutus'') and the cacomistle (''B. sumichrasti''). Genetic studies have indicated that the closest relatives of ...

'', respectively. Due to the more digitigrade stance of their legs compared to the plantigrade stance of other members of Procyonidae, some taxonomies place the genus as a separate family, ''Bassaricidae.''. The name is a Greek word for fox ("bassaris") with a Latinized diminutive ending ("-iscus"). The genus was first described by Elliott Coues in 1887. He proposed the word "bassarisk" as the English term for animals in this genus. Its habitat includes semi-arid areas in the

southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

Species

References

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