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Neogale

Genus of mustelids

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Photo: Tom Koerner/USFWS
USFWS Mountain-Prairie · Public domain

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Taxonomy

Members of this genus were formerly classified into the genera Mustela and Neovison, but many studies had previously recovered several American species of Mustela, as well as both species within Neovison, to comprise a clade (or monophyletic group) distinct from all other members of Mustelinae. A 2021 study found this clade to have diverged from Mustela during the Late Miocene, between 11.8 - 13.4 million years ago, with all members within the clade being more closely related to one another than to any of the other species in Mustela, and gave it the name Neogale, which was originally coined by John Edward Gray. The American Society of Mammalogists later accepted this change.

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Monotypic taxonTaxonomic group with only one subordinate taxonSpecies descriptionFormal description of a discovered speciesParaphylyType of taxonomic groupIUCN Red ListInventory of the global conservation status of biological speciesSubtropicsGeographic and climate zoneCommon nameName generally used for a taxon, group of taxa or organism(s)