Ictonychinae is a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

of the mammal

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Mustelidae The Mustelidae (; from Latin , weasel) are a diverse family of carnivora, carnivoran mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, polecats, martens, grisons, and wolverines. Otherwise known as mustelids (), they form the largest family in the s ...

found mainly in the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

(three species) and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

(three species), with one Eurasian member. It includes the grisons, Patagonian weasel, striped polecats,

African striped weasel The African striped weasel (''Poecilogale albinucha''), also known as the white-naped weasel, striped weasel or African weasel, is a small mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa, where its range stretches from as far north as Kenya down south to So ...

, and

marbled polecat The marbled polecat (''Vormela peregusna'') is a small mammal belonging to the genus ''Vormela'' within the mustelid subfamily Ictonychinae. ''Vormela'' is from the German language, German word , which means "little worm". The specific name (zool ...

. These genera were formerly included within a

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

definition of the mustelid subfamily

Mustelinae Mustelinae is a subfamily of Family (biology), family Mustelidae, including weasels, ferrets, and minks. __TOC__ It was formerly defined in a paraphyletic manner to also include wolverines, martens, and many other mustelids, to the exclusion of ...

. Most members have a mask-like bar or larger dark marking across their faces; the African representatives of the group are striped. A defense mechanism common to the group is use of a chemical spray similar to (but not necessarily as strong as) that of

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 ...

Species

Subfamily Ictonychinae

Fossil genera

*'' Cernictis'' *'' Enhydrictis'' *'' Martellictis'' *'' Lutravus'' *'' Oriensictis'' *'' Pannonictis'' *'' Propoecilogale'' *'' Sminthosinis'' *'' Stipanicicia'' *'' Trigonictis'' *'' Trochictis''

References

External links

{{carnivora-stub