Meles

Meles is a genus of badgers containing four living species known as Eurasian badgers, the Japanese badger, Asian badger, Caucasian badger and European badger. In an older categorization, they were seen as a single species with three subspecies. There are also several extinct members of the genus. They are members of the subfamily Melinae of the weasel family, Mustelidae.

Meles

Uncredited · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
badgerPBDB
Sits inside
MelinaePBDB
Diet
carnivore, omnivorePBDB
Life habit
semifossorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 5.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 75 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 75 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 64 of 75 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 5 of 75 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.2–2.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.8–2.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 6 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 16 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 32 occurrences5.333 Mya11.7 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

75 occurrences of Meles on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

75 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Gerakarou — 40.68°N, 23.15°EPlatanochori — 40.57°N, 23.47°ELishi — 34.17°N, 109.25°EUnterer Travertin — 50.97°N, 11.35°EGuadix — 37.42°N, 3.17°WZanda — 31.48°N, 79.80°EGuxiangtun — 45.92°N, 127.40°E

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The named rock units Meles has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 68 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Meles and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Meles and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

785 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 75 sites for Meles, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

53 references

Each of the 75 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 41 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Meles

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Meles meles · ummz:mammals:122594

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMelinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brisson 1762