Mephitis mephitis

The striped skunk is a skunk of the genus Mephitis that occurs across much of North America, including southern Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. It is currently listed as least concern by the IUCN on account of its wide range and ability to adapt to human-modified environments.

Mephitis mephitis

Wallace Keck · Public Domain · 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
striped skunkPBDB
Sits inside
MephitisPBDB
Diet
carnivore, omnivorePBDB, for Carnivora
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Mephitis
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Mass
33.5 gWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 1.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 1 of 45 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 41 of 45 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 4 of 45 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.0–867 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences173 ka–0 Mya — about 32 occurrences1.4 Mya11.7 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

45 occurrences of Mephitis mephitis 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

45 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

3 formations

Kingsdown — 37.04°N, 100.48°WGood Creek — 34.00°N, 99.80°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mephitis mephitis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 42 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mephitis mephitis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Mephitis mephitis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

894 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Mephitis mephitis, 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

38 references

Each of the 45 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. 26 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 content2

Picture of Mephitis mephitis

Credit
Wallace Keck
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Mephitis mephitis mephitis · CMN:CMNMA:17094

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 itMephitis through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Schreber 1776)