''Buisnictis'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...

from

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

. There are currently four accepted species: ''Buisnictis breviramus'', ''Buisnictis schoffi'', ''Buisnictis burrowsi'' and ''Buisnictis metabatos''.

Phylogeny

As of Wang, Whistler and Takeuchi, 2005, ''Buisnictis'' was recovered as a more derived skunk, while in 2014 Wang, Carranza-Castañeda and Aranda Gómez suggested ''Buisnictis'', specifically ''B. metabatos'', may have been the ancestor of the crown

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

skunks.

References

Skunks Prehistoric caniforms Extinct animals of the United States Fossil taxa described in 1950 Prehistoric carnivoran genera {{paleo-carnivora-stub