''Meles'' is a genus of

badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

s containing four living species known as Eurasian badgers, the

Japanese badger The Japanese badger (''Meles anakuma'') is a species of carnivoran of the family Mustelidae, the weasels and their kin. Endemic to Japan, it is found on Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Shōdoshima. It shares the genus '' Meles'' with its close rel ...

(''Meles anakuma''),

Asian badger The Asian badger (''Meles leucurus''), also known as the sand badger, is a species of badger native to Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Korean Peninsula and Russia. Characteristics The Asian badger is mostly lighter in colour than th ...

(''Meles leucurus''), Caucasian badger (''Meles canescens'') and

European badger The European badger (''Meles meles''), also known as the Eurasian badger, is a badger species in the family Mustelidae native to Europe and West Asia and parts of Central Asia. It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List, as it has a w ...

(''Meles meles''). In an older categorization, they were seen as a single species with three

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

(''Meles meles anakuma'', ''Meles meles leucurus'' and ''Meles meles meles''). There are also several

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

members of the genus. They are members of the subfamily

Melinae Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by their ...

of the weasel family,

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 ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Meles'' was erected by French zoologist

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosophy, natural philosopher. Brisson was born on 30 April 1723 at Fontenay-le-Comte in the Vendée department of western France. Note that page 14 ...

in 1762 after

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

had described the Eurasian badger '' Meles meles'' in 1758. This animal had a very extensive range over most of temperate Europe and Asia and there has been much discussion as to whether it is a single or three distinct species. There are geographical differences between individuals from different parts of the range in skull structure,

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

of the first

premolar The premolars, also called premolar Tooth (human), teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the Canine tooth, canine and Molar (tooth), molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per dental terminology#Quadrant, quadrant in ...

teeth, and facial markings. Some authorities advocated placing European and Asian badgers in separate species, ''Meles meles'' and ''Meles leptorhynchus'' (Milne-Edwards, 1867), the boundary between the two being the

Volga River The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

. Others considered three subspecies, ''M. m. meles'' found west of the Volga, ''M. m. arenarius-leptorhynchus'' found between the Volga and

Transbaikalia Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykal'ye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal at the south side of the eastern Si ...

, and ''M. m. amurensis-anakuma'' from the

Amur The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer Manchuria, Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ...

and Primorsky regions. Genetic studies of

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

show the separation of two variants on either side of the Volga but their exact taxonomic rank remains undefined. A further study of cheek teeth from individuals across the entire range supports this division and provides confirmation that ''M. meles'' and ''M. anakuma'' are indeed separate species.

Extant species

Fossils

A further species is ''Meles thorali'' from the late

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

, known only from fossil remains, specimens of which have been found at

Saint-Vallier, Drôme Saint-Vallier (; ) is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France. It is an administrative, commercial and industrial town at the confluence of the rivers Galaure and Rhone. Geography The town is situated on the banks of the Rho ...

, in southeastern France and Binagady, in Azerbaijan. These have large cheek teeth and characteristics intermediate between ''M. meles'' and ''M. anakuma''. It is theorized that they were an ancestral species from which these two modern species diverged. Another

species from Europe is ''Meles hollitzeri'' from the Early Pleistocene, remains of which were found in

Deutsch-Altenburg Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, until 1928 Deutsch-Altenburg () is a market town and spa in the district of Bruck an der Leitha in Lower Austria in Austria. Geography The town lies in the Lower Austrian Industrieviertel region, on the right riverbank of ...

, in northeastern Austria, and Untermassfeld, in southeastern Germany.

References

Cited texts

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meles (Genus) Badgers Carnivoran genera Taxa named by Mathurin Jacques Brisson Extant Pleistocene first appearances