Just to be safest I am checking with a paleontologist in the right
segment of mammalogy in a major U.S. museum of natural history, but
unless a LOT changed mustelids are the MOST RECENT of the branches of
the canids, NOT the oldest. Kris knows that I am digging into this
after her comment got my attention.
The people who would know for sure are of course the paleontologists
and taxonomists who actually DO work with the relevant fossils.
Luckily, a friend is the curator and head of vertebrate paleontology of
a major Natural History museum, so I am asking him to ask the relevant
expert and also to find out what would currently be recommended as a
text because I think I'd love to dig more for my own amusement.
Unless things have changed greatly the major radiation leading to the
current branches of the canid portion of Carnivora happened in the
Oligocene with the mustelid one being the most recent, preceded by the
procyonids and ursids.
I guess I could also fire off a note to Dr. David MacDonald at Oxford,
as one of the top specialists for this specific question, but I don't
know him and that seems like overkill. Besides, I doubt he'd say much
that is different from his text that i have here unless something has
radically changed and I doubt that because of references like:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/6/10
year 2008
Multigene phylogeny of the Mustelidae: Resolving relationships,
tempo and biogeographic history of a mammalian adaptive radiation
Klaus-Peter Koepfli 1, Kerry A Deere 1, Graham J Slater 1,
Colleen Begg 2 , Keith Begg 2 , Lon Grassman 3 , Mauro Lucherini 4 ,
Geraldine Veron 5 and Robert K Wayne 1
1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1606, USA
2 Postnet Suite 230, Private Bag X18, Rondebosch, 7701,
Republic of South Africa
3 Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, MSC 218, 700 University
Boulevard, Texas A and M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363,
USA
4 Grupo de Ecologia Comportamental de Mammiferos (GECM), Catedra
Fisiologa Animal, Departamento de Biologia, Bioqumica y Farmacia,
Universidad Nacional del Sur -- CONICET, San Juan 670, 8000 Baha
Blanca, Argentina
5 Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Departement
Systematique et Evolution, CP 51 USM 601-UMR 5202, Origine, Structure
et Evolution de la Biodiversite, 57 Rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05,
France BMC Biology 2008, 6:10doi:10.1186/1741-7007-6-10
The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be
found online at:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/6/10
As do the other refs I've read this article also points to a relatively
recent age (late Oligocene whereas the others that radiated from the
dog branch are early Oligocene into middle Oligocene):
BEGIN QUOTE
Fossil evidence indicates that the biogeographic history of mustelids
is characterized by numerous intercontinental dispersals, primarily
originating from Eurasia where the earliest fossil remains of the
family (of Late Oligocene age) are found [18,19]. For instance, a
large majority of mustelid diversity in North (and South) America is
considered to have originated from lineages that repeatedly dispersed
from Eurasia via the Bering land bridge [19,20].
END QUOTE
Given there are much older dog, procyonid, and bear fossils it becomes
pretty difficult for the mustelids to have been around before them.
BTW, did you know that the earliest mustelids were much larger? In some
ways anatomically they were more bear-like, too.
For veterinary questions it pays to ask the vets (as i often say -- and
that is one reason I am so careful to point out that I am not a vet).
For paleontology questions it pays to ask the paleontologists. For fast
cooking that tastes great ask Mark Bittman. :-)
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Posted in FML 6302]
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