Common names (from Vanderhaar and Hwang 2003, unless otherwise noted)
Scientific name
Superfamily Musteloidea (from Sato et al. 2012)
Family Mustelidae (from Sato et al. 2012)
Genus Mellivora
M. capensis (from Vanderhaar and Hwang 2003)
Mythology and Folklore
Popular culture resources
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia
Superfamily: Musteloidea
Family: Mustelidae
Subfamily: Mustelinae - wolverines, martens, and weasels
Genus: Mellivora
Species: Mellivora capensis* (Schreber, 1776)
(from ITIS 2014)
*No genetic studies yet conducted to identify subspecies (Do Linh San et al. 2016). Wozencraft (2005) list 12 subspecies from the literature based on pelage and other physical characteristics (these subspecies have not been adopted by the IUCN).
18th Century plate from Schreber's Die Saugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur (1774).
Image Credit: Artist unknown. Image within the public domain in the U.S. and Europe. Available from openlibrary.org.
Begg and Begg (2002)
Begg and Begg (2004)
Begg et al. (2005a)
Bennett (1830)
Brown (1956)
Dean et al. (1990)
Drake-Brockman (1910)
ITIS (2014)
Sato et al. (2012)
Vanderhaar and Hwang (2003)
Voss and Jansa (2012)