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Classification - stink badgers as badgers

For many years, the stink badgers have been accepted by most (but by no means all) as members of the badger sub-family. This gives the following classification:

Class: Mammalia (Mammals)

Family: Mustelidae (Weasels etc.)

Sub-family: Melinae (True badgers)

Genus & species: Mydaus javanensis (The Indonesian stink badger)

Genus & species: Mydaus marchei (The Palawan stink badger)

Some have placed the Palawan stink badger into a sub-genus, Suillotaxus. The use of sub-genera in animal classification is relatively uncommon. It is an indication that the stink badgers are not thought to be as closely related to each other as species in other genera are. Other taxonomists have classified the Palawan stink badger in a genus of its own, giving it the scientific name Suillotaxus marchei [b001, b003-01].

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Classification - stink badgers as skunks

In the past, stink badgers have been classified as members of the skunk sub-family, the mephitinae [c011]. Recent studies (including one by Jerry Dragoo) have lent weight to the idea that stink badgers are indeed more closely related to the skunks than they are to badgers. Following the traditional view that the skunks form a sub-family within the Mustelidea, this would give the following classification for the stink badgers:

Class: Mammalia (Mammals)

Family: Mustelidae (Weasels etc.)

Sub-family: Mephitinae (Skunks and stink badgers)

Genus & species: Mydaus javanensis (The Indonesian stink badger)

Genus & species: Mydaus marchei (The Palawan stink badger)

Jerry Dragoo has not only provided evidence that the stink badgers are really skunks, he has also proposed that the skunks should be considered as a family in their own right, the Mephitidae. If this is accepted, it means that the stink badgers are even more distantly related to badgers. Their classification would look like this:

Class: Mammalia (Mammals)

Family: Mephitidae (Skunks and stink badgers)

Genus & species: Mydaus javanensis (The Indonesian stink badger)

Genus & species: Mydaus marchei (The Palawan stink badger)

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Subspecies

Two subspecies have been described for the Indonesian stink badger: Mydaus javanensis javanensis, which occurs on Java, Sumatra and North Natuna Islands, and Mydaus javanensis lucifer, which occurs on Borneo and is said to be darker in colour.

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Picture credits

The Palawan stink badger photo used at the head of this Article is © Peter Widmann, and used with his permission. Credits for the photos used in the right-hand margin of this page for site navigation can be found on the Credits page.

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