''Palaeomephitis steinheimensis'' is an extinct species of

mephitid Mephitidae is a family of mammals comprising the skunks and stink badgers. They are noted for the great development of their anal scent glands, which they use to deter predators. Skunks were formerly classified as a subfamily of the Mustelidae ( ...

of the Miocene epoch in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. It is the earliest known species of the family Mephitidae.

Description

''Palaeomephitis steinheimensis'' was described by Jäger in 1839 from a well-preserved

cranium The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

found in

Steinheim am Albuch Steinheim am Albuch is a municipality in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Steinheim is known for its meteorite crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical o ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

, southern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Subsequently, different authors considered it to represent a

viverrid Viverridae is a family of small to medium-sized, feliform mammals. The viverrids () comprise 33 species placed in 14 genera. This family was named and first described by John Edward Gray in 1821. Viverrids occur all over Africa, southern Europe, ...

or a leptarctine

mustelid The Mustelidae (; from Latin ''mustela'', weasel) are a family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks and wolverines, among others. Mustelids () are a diverse group and form the largest family in ...

. It was placed in the Mephitinae (now considered to be a distinct family) by Wolsan in 1999, on the evidence of its having an extended

epitympanic recess The epitympanic recess is a hollow located on the superior/roof aspect of the middle ear. Clinical significance This recess is a possible route of spread of infection to the mastoid air cells located in the mastoid process of the temporal bone ...

to the middle ear.

Taxonomy

Within the skunks, ''Palaeomephitis'' is considered to stand close to the two extant species of

stink badger Stink badgers, also known as false badgers are a genus (''Mydaus'') of the skunk family of carnivorans, the Mephitidae. They resemble the better-known members of the family Mustelidae also termed 'badgers' (which are themselves a polyphyletic g ...

(''Mydaus'') and the several extinct species of ''

Promephitis ''Promephitis'' is an extinct genus of mephitid, of which several species have been described from the Miocene and early Pliocene of Europe and Asia. Characteristics The fossil remains of the ''Promephitis'' species, like all members of the sk ...

''. This clade is considered to be a sister group to all other skunks living today and other fossil forms.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18002457 Mephitidae Prehistoric carnivoran genera