MammalBase - Accepted taxon: Mustela erminea

Accepted taxon: Mustela erminea
Taxon:	Mustela erminea
Rank:	Species
Higher Classification:	CARNIVORA \| CANIFORMIA \| Mustelidae \| Mustelinae \| Mustela
Reference:	Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), JHU Press, 2005.

Fig.1 - Ternary plot of the proximate analysis for the Mustela erminea diet.
CF (Crude Fibre) 1, ASH (Ash contents) 10, NFE (Nitrogen-Free-Extract) 7, CP (Crude Protein) 57, EE (Ether Extract) 25. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 1. List of Diet Items for Mustela erminea.
TSN Complete name	Part	Ratio ^a.	Reference(s)
Aves	WHOLE	19.38	Damuth, J…
Mammalia	WHOLE	19.33	Damuth, J…
Muridae	WHOLE	17.86	Grzimek,B…
Rodentia	WHOLE	12.15	Grzimek,B…
Vertebrata	EGGS	5.79	Nowak,R. …
Anura	WHOLE	3.95	Nowak,R. …
Arvicolinae	WHOLE	3.11	Grzimek,B…
Lagomorpha	WHOLE	3.08	Smith,A. …
Sciurinae	WHOLE	2.56	Smith,A. …
Insecta	WHOLE	2.55	Grzimek,B…
Spermophilus	WHOLE	2.22	Grzimek,B…
Animalia	WHOLE	2.00	Reid,F., …
Leporidae	WHOLE	1.78	Grzimek,B…
Squamata	WHOLE	1.54	Smith,A. …
Serpentes	WHOLE	1.03	Smith,A. …
Aves	EGGS	0.89	Grzimek,B…
Oligochaeta	WHOLE	0.51	Smith,A. …
Magnoliopsida	FRUIT	0.26	Smith,A. …

^a. Standardized values. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 2. List of Standard Traits for Mustela erminea.
Trait	Selected Value	All Value(s)	Reference(s)
Temporal habits	arrhythmic	arrhythmic	– John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554
Dietary category: Eisenberg 1981	Carnivore	Carnivore	– A. R. Friscia, B. Van Valkenburgh, A. R. Biknevicius, 2007, 'An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans', Journal of Zoology, vol. 272, no. 1, pp. 82-100, Brian K. McNab, 1986, 'The Influence of Food Habits on the Energetics of Eutherian Mammals', Ecological Monographs, vol. 56, no. 1, p. 1, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554
Dietary category: Miljutin 2009	Animalivore	Animalivore	– A. R. Friscia, B. Van Valkenburgh, A. R. Biknevicius, 2007, 'An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans', Journal of Zoology, vol. 272, no. 1, pp. 82-100, Brian K. McNab, 1986, 'The Influence of Food Habits on the Energetics of Eutherian Mammals', Ecological Monographs, vol. 56, no. 1, p. 1, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554
Locomotion: Eisenberg 1981	Terrestrial	Terrestrial	– John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554

Table 3. List of Standard Measurements for Mustela erminea.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	9	9	-	-	-	131.57	-	-	Engelman,…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	9	9	-	-	-	131.57	-	-	Engelman,…

Table 4. List of other Measurements ^b. for Mustela erminea.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
OPD (l)		n/a	2	2	-	-	-	17	-	-	Evans, Al…
OPD (u)		n/a	2	2	-	-	-	21	-	-	Evans, Al…

^b. other Measurements. Source Measurements which are not listed on or mapped with the Standard Traits..

Table 5. List of Data Sources for Mustela erminea.
Taxon	Reference	Match	Status
Mustela erminea	McNab,B. K., 1986, The influence of food habits on the energetics of eutherian mammals, Ecological Monographs	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Gittleman,J. L., 1985, Carnivore body size: ecological and taxonomic correlates, Oecologia	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Friscia,AR, 2006, An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans, Journal of zoology	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Damuth, J. 2010. ABSOLUT 6 a mammalian database compiled by the national center for ecological analysis and synthesis (NCEAS ) workshop on mammalian communities.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Evans, Alistair R., Gregory P. Wilson, Mikael Fortelius, and Jukka Jernvall. Ã¢â‚¬Å“High-Level Similarity of Dentitions in Carnivorans and Rodents.Ã¢â‚¬Â Nature 445, no. 7123 (December 13, 2006): 78Ã¢â‚¬â€œ81. doi:10.1038/nature05433.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Reid,F., 2006, Peterson field guide to mammals of North America,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Nowak,R. M., 1991, Walker's mammals of the world,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Grzimek,B., 2003, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Mammals I-V,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Smith,A. T., 2010, A guide to the mammals of China,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Nowak,R. M., 1991, Walker's mammals of the world,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Law, C.J., Blackwell, E.A., Curtis, A.A., Dickinson, E., Hartstone‐Rose, A. and Santana, S.E., 2022. Decoupled evolution of the cranium and mandible in carnivoran mammals. Evolution.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Herberstein, M.E., McLean, D.J., Lowe, E., Wolff, J.O., Khan, M.K., Smith, K., Allen, A.P., Bulbert, M., Buzatto, B.A., Eldridge, M.D. and Falster, D., 2022. AnimalTraits-a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size. Scientific Data, 9(1), p.265.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mustela erminea	Engelman, R.K., 2022. Occipital condyle width (OCW) is a highly accurate predictor of body mass in therian mammals. BMC biology, 20(1), p.37.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted

Citation for this page: [The MammalBase community 2026. / CC BY 4.0. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7462864 Mustela erminea , Accessed 16th April 2026 at https://mammalbase.net/me/14982]