Mustelinae

Mustelinae
	American mink
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Placentalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Subfamily:	Mustelinae; G. Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
Genera
	†Dinogale; †Lartetictis; †Legionarictis; Mustela; Neogale; †Tisisthenes;
	Mustelinae range

Mustelinae is a subfamily of family Mustelidae, including weasels, ferrets, and minks.^[1]^[2]

It was formerly defined in a paraphyletic manner to also include wolverines, martens, and many other mustelids, to the exclusion of the otters (Lutrinae).^[3]

Extant species of Mustelinae

Subfamily Mustelinae

Image	Genus	Living species
	Mustela Linnaeus, 1758 (weasels, ferrets, European mink and stoats)	Mountain weasel, Mustela altaica Stoat or ermine, Mustela erminea Steppe polecat, Mustela eversmannii Domestic ferret, Mustela furo Haida ermine, Mustela haidarum Japanese weasel, Mustela itatsi Yellow-bellied weasel, Mustela kathiah European mink, Mustela lutreola Indonesian mountain weasel, Mustela lutreolina Mustela mopbie^[4] Black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes Least weasel, Mustela nivalis Malayan weasel, Mustela nudipes European polecat, Mustela putorius American ermine, Mustela richardsonii Siberian weasel, Mustela sibirica Back-striped weasel, Mustela strigidorsa
	Neogale Gray, 1865 (New World weasels and mink)	Amazon weasel, Neogale africana Colombian weasel, Neogale felipei Long-tailed weasel, Neogale frenata American mink, Neogale vison

The sea mink (Neogale macrodon) is a recently extinct species from the 19th century that was native to the Maritime Provinces of Canada and New England in the United States.

Importance for humans

The furs of several members of this subfamily, including weasel, ermine, mink, and polecat, are used in fashion.^[5]

Domestic ferrets are fairly common pets.

Ferret model of COVID-19

COVID-19 can infect both the European mink (Mustela lutreola) and the American mink (Neogale vison). Ferrets are used to study COVID-19.^[6] Ferrets get some of the same symptoms as humans,^[7] but they get less sick than farmed mink.^[8] Ferrets are a fairly uncommon animal to use as a model, but mice were not an easy model of COVID-19 because mice lack the ACE2 gene.^[6]

References

^ Nascimento, F. O. do (2014). "On the correct name for some subfamilies of Mustelidae (Mammalia, Carnivora)". Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia. 54 (21): 307–313. doi:10.1590/0031-1049.2014.54.21.
^ Law, C. J.; Slater, G. J.; Mehta, R. S. (2018-01-01). "Lineage Diversity and Size Disparity in Musteloidea: Testing Patterns of Adaptive Radiation Using Molecular and Fossil-Based Methods". Systematic Biology. 67 (1): 127–144. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syx047. PMID 28472434.
^ Koepfli KP, Deere KA, Slater GJ, et al. (2008). "Multigene phylogeny of the Mustelidae: Resolving relationships, tempo and biogeographic history of a mammalian adaptive radiation". BMC Biol. 6: 4–5. doi:10.1186/1741-7007-6-10. PMC 2276185. PMID 18275614.
^ Wei, Qiu-Jin; Cao, Lei; He, Xing-Cheng; Abramov, Alexei; Wang, Jin; Fu, Jie; Li, Rui; Yang, Qi-Sen; Fu, Li-Qiang; Huang, Yao-Hua; Zhou, Cai-Quan; Wen, Zhi-Xin; Ge, De-Yan (2025-12-08). "Phylogenomics of the Genus Mustela with description of a new species from China". Journal of Systematics and Evolution (published 2025-11-14). doi:10.1111/jse.70029.
^ "History of Fur in Fashion: Introduction". 4 December 2011.
^ ^a ^b Muñoz-Fontela, César; Dowling, William E.; Funnell, Simon G. P.; Gsell, Pierre-S.; Riveros-Balta, A. Ximena; Albrecht, Randy A.; Andersen, Hanne; Baric, Ralph S.; Carroll, Miles W.; Cavaleri, Marco; Qin, Chuan; Crozier, Ian; Dallmeier, Kai; de Waal, Leon; de Wit, Emmie; Delang, Leen; Dohm, Erik; Duprex, W. Paul; Falzarano, Darryl; Finch, Courtney L.; Frieman, Matthew B.; Graham, Barney S.; Gralinski, Lisa E.; Guilfoyle, Kate; Haagmans, Bart L.; Hamilton, Geraldine A.; Hartman, Amy L.; Herfst, Sander; Kaptein, Suzanne J. F.; Klimstra, William B.; Knezevic, Ivana; Krause, Philip R.; Kuhn, Jens H.; Le Grand, Roger; Lewis, Mark G.; Liu, Wen-Chun; Maisonnasse, Pauline; McElroy, Anita K.; Munster, Vincent; Oreshkova, Nadia; Rasmussen, Angela L.; Rocha-Pereira, Joana; Rockx, Barry; Rodríguez, Estefanía; Rogers, Thomas F.; Salguero, Francisco J.; Schotsaert, Michael; Stittelaar, Koert J.; Thibaut, Hendrik Jan; Tseng, Chien-Te; Vergara-Alert, Júlia; Beer, Martin; Brasel, Trevor; Chan, Jasper F. W.; García-Sastre, Adolfo; Neyts, Johan; Perlman, Stanley; Reed, Douglas S.; Richt, Juergen A.; Roy, Chad J.; Segalés, Joaquim; Vasan, Seshadri S.; Henao-Restrepo, Ana María; Barouch, Dan H. (October 2020). "Animal models for COVID-19". Nature. 586 (7830): 509–515. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2787-6. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 8136862. PMID 32967005.
^ "Table 1 SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans and in animal models". Retrieved 14 November 2020.
^ Racaniello, Vincent; Despommier, Dickson; Dove, Alan; Condit, Rich; Barker, Brianne; Griffin, Daniel; Rosenfeld, Amy. "TWiV 679: Mink, mutation, and myocytes | This Week in Virology". TWiV. Retrieved 14 November 2020.

External links

Mustelinae

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[Nascimento2014-1] Nascimento, F. O. do (2014). "On the correct name for some subfamilies of Mustelidae (Mammalia, Carnivora)". Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia. 54 (21): 307–313. doi:10.1590/0031-1049.2014.54.21.

[Law-2018-2] Law, C. J.; Slater, G. J.; Mehta, R. S. (2018-01-01). "Lineage Diversity and Size Disparity in Musteloidea: Testing Patterns of Adaptive Radiation Using Molecular and Fossil-Based Methods". Systematic Biology. 67 (1): 127–144. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syx047. PMID 28472434.

[3] Koepfli KP, Deere KA, Slater GJ, et al. (2008). "Multigene phylogeny of the Mustelidae: Resolving relationships, tempo and biogeographic history of a mammalian adaptive radiation". BMC Biol. 6: 4–5. doi:10.1186/1741-7007-6-10. PMC 2276185. PMID 18275614.

[jse-4] Wei, Qiu-Jin; Cao, Lei; He, Xing-Cheng; Abramov, Alexei; Wang, Jin; Fu, Jie; Li, Rui; Yang, Qi-Sen; Fu, Li-Qiang; Huang, Yao-Hua; Zhou, Cai-Quan; Wen, Zhi-Xin; Ge, De-Yan (2025-12-08). "Phylogenomics of the Genus Mustela with description of a new species from China". Journal of Systematics and Evolution (published 2025-11-14). doi:10.1111/jse.70029.

[5] "History of Fur in Fashion: Introduction". 4 December 2011.

[Animal_models_for_COVID-19-6] Muñoz-Fontela, César; Dowling, William E.; Funnell, Simon G. P.; Gsell, Pierre-S.; Riveros-Balta, A. Ximena; Albrecht, Randy A.; Andersen, Hanne; Baric, Ralph S.; Carroll, Miles W.; Cavaleri, Marco; Qin, Chuan; Crozier, Ian; Dallmeier, Kai; de Waal, Leon; de Wit, Emmie; Delang, Leen; Dohm, Erik; Duprex, W. Paul; Falzarano, Darryl; Finch, Courtney L.; Frieman, Matthew B.; Graham, Barney S.; Gralinski, Lisa E.; Guilfoyle, Kate; Haagmans, Bart L.; Hamilton, Geraldine A.; Hartman, Amy L.; Herfst, Sander; Kaptein, Suzanne J. F.; Klimstra, William B.; Knezevic, Ivana; Krause, Philip R.; Kuhn, Jens H.; Le Grand, Roger; Lewis, Mark G.; Liu, Wen-Chun; Maisonnasse, Pauline; McElroy, Anita K.; Munster, Vincent; Oreshkova, Nadia; Rasmussen, Angela L.; Rocha-Pereira, Joana; Rockx, Barry; Rodríguez, Estefanía; Rogers, Thomas F.; Salguero, Francisco J.; Schotsaert, Michael; Stittelaar, Koert J.; Thibaut, Hendrik Jan; Tseng, Chien-Te; Vergara-Alert, Júlia; Beer, Martin; Brasel, Trevor; Chan, Jasper F. W.; García-Sastre, Adolfo; Neyts, Johan; Perlman, Stanley; Reed, Douglas S.; Richt, Juergen A.; Roy, Chad J.; Segalés, Joaquim; Vasan, Seshadri S.; Henao-Restrepo, Ana María; Barouch, Dan H. (October 2020). "Animal models for COVID-19". Nature. 586 (7830): 509–515. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2787-6. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 8136862. PMID 32967005.

[7] "Table 1 SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans and in animal models". Retrieved 14 November 2020.

[TWiV_679-8] Racaniello, Vincent; Despommier, Dickson; Dove, Alan; Condit, Rich; Barker, Brianne; Griffin, Daniel; Rosenfeld, Amy. "TWiV 679: Mink, mutation, and myocytes | This Week in Virology". TWiV. Retrieved 14 November 2020.

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