Neogale vison

The American mink is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human introduction has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink is classed as a least-concern species by the IUCN. The American mink was formerly thought to be the only extant member of the genus Neovison following the extinction of the sea mink (N. macrodon), but recent studies, followed by taxonomic authorities, have reclassified it and the sea mink within the genus Neogale, which also contains a few New World weasel species. The American mink is a carnivore that feeds on rodents, fish, crustaceans, frogs, and birds. In its introduced range in Europe it has been classified as an invasive species linked to declines in European mink, Pyrenean desman, and water vole populations. It is the animal most frequently farmed for its fur, exceeding the silver fox, sable, marten, and skunk in economic importance.

Neogale vison

Needsmoreritalin · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
minkPBDB
Sits inside
NeogalePBDB
Diet
carnivore, omnivorePBDB, for Mustelidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 198 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 210 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 1.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pleistocene — about 15 of 25 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 10 of 25 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.3–1.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.1–1.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.1–1.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.0–950 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences950 ka–887 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences887 ka–823 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences823 ka–760 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences760 ka–697 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences697 ka–633 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences633 ka–570 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences570 ka–507 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences507 ka–443 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences443 ka–380 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences380 ka–317 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences317 ka–253 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences253 ka–190 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences190 ka–127 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences127 ka–63 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences63 ka–0 Mya — about 14 occurrences210 ka – 11.7 ka1.9 Mya0 Mya

25 occurrences of Neogale vison 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

25 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

Crooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Neogale vison has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Neogale vison and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Neogale vison and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

632 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 24 sites for Neogale vison, 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

20 references

Each of the 25 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. 8 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 content1

Picture of Neogale vison

Credit
Needsmoreritalin
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Neogale vison was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itNeogale through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Schreber 1777)