''Osmotherium'' is an extinct genus 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 ginge ...

from Pleistocene

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. it contains a single species, ''Osmotherium spelaeum''. The genus name, ''Osmotherium'', hails from Aincient Greek, ''osmḗ'', "smell"; and ''therium'', "beast"; meaning smelly beast. The species name, ''spelaeum'', Latin for "cave", in reference to the sole locality which its remains have been found in, Port Kennedy Bone Cave. While fragmentary, ''Osmotherium spelaeum'''s jaws are the most prominent of any other Mephitid in the locality, with Cope himself describing 6 different specimens, although attributing some to '' Mephitis'', ''

Brachyprotoma ''Brachyprotoma obtusata'' (also known as the short-faced skunk) is an extinct genus of skunk of the Pleistocene epoch what is now North America. References Skunks Prehistoric caniforms Fauna of Canada Extinct animals of the United ...

'' and the now defunct ''Pelycictis.''Hall, E. R. (1936). ''Mustelid Mammals from the Pleistocene of North America: With Systematic Notes on Some Recent Members of the Gerera Mustela, Taxidea and Mephitis''.Daeschler, E., Spamer, E. E., & Parris, D. C. (1993)
Review and new data on the Port Kennedy local fauna and flora (Late Irvingtonian), Valley Forge National Historical Park, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
''The Mosasaur'', ''5'', 23–41. While information on these fragmentary remains scarce, in 2005 Wang et al.'s description of '' Martinogale faulli'', ''Osmotherium'' was recovered as a

sister genus In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

to '' Mephitis'':

References

Skunks Prehistoric caniforms Extinct animals of the United States Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope Fossil taxa described in 1896 Prehistoric carnivoran genera {{paleo-carnivora-stub