Musteloidea

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Oligocene|Present}}

| image = Musteloidea.jpg

| image_caption = Left-right: spotted skunk, red panda, wolverine and raccoon; representing the families Mephitidae, Ailuridae, Mustelidae and Procyonidae.

| taxon = Musteloidea

| authority = Fischer, 1817

| subdivision_ranks = Families

| subdivision =

Ailuridae
Mephitidae
Mustelidae (type)
Procyonidae
Incertae sedis
{{extinct}}Peignictis

}}

Musteloidea is a superfamily of carnivoran mammals united by shared characteristics of the skull and teeth. Musteloids are the sister group of pinnipeds, the group which includes seals.{{cite journal |author1=Welsey-Hunt, G.D. |author2=Flynn, J.J. |name-list-style=amp | year = 2005 | title = Phylogeny of the Carnivora: basal relationships among the Carnivoramorphans, and assessment of the position of 'Miacoidea' relative to Carnivora | journal = Journal of Systematic Palaeontology | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–28 | doi = 10.1017/S1477201904001518|bibcode=2005JSPal...3....1W }}

Musteloidea comprises the following families:

Ailuridae, the red panda (and its extinct kin).

Mephitidae, the skunks and stink badgers.

Mustelidae, the weasel (mustelid) family, including new- and old-world badgers, ferrets and polecats, fishers, grisons and ratels, martens and sables, minks, river and sea otters, stoats and ermines, tayras and wolverines.

Procyonidae, the raccoons and raccoon-like procyonids, including coatimundis, kinkajous, olingos, olinguitos, ringtails and cacomistles.

In North America, ursids (bears) and musteloids first appeared in the Chadronian{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} of the late Eocene, and in early-Oligocene Europe, immediately following the Grande Coupure extinction event.

The following cladogram is based on molecular phylogeny of six genes in Flynn (2005),{{Cite journal |author1=Flynn, J. J. |author2=Finarelli, J. A. |author3=Zehr, S. |author4=Hsu, J. |author5=Nedbal, M. A. |title=Molecular phylogeny of the Carnivora (Mammalia): Assessing the impact of increased sampling on resolving enigmatic relationships |doi=10.1080/10635150590923326 |journal=Systematic Biology |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=317–37 |year=2005 |pmid=16012099|doi-access=free }} with the musteloids updated following the multigene analysis of Law et al. (2018).{{Cite journal|last1=Law|first1=Chris J.|last2=Slater|first2=Graham J.|last3=Mehta|first3=Rita S.|date=2018-01-01|title=Lineage Diversity and Size Disparity in Musteloidea: Testing Patterns of Adaptive Radiation Using Molecular and Fossil-Based Methods|journal=Systematic Biology|language=en|volume=67|issue=1|pages=127–144|doi=10.1093/sysbio/syx047|pmid=28472434|issn=1063-5157|doi-access=free}}

{{clade | style=font-size:85%;line-height:85%

|label1=Caniformia

|1={{clade

|1 =Canidae (dogs and other canines) File:Dogs, jackals, wolves, and foxes (Plate XI).jpg

|label2=Arctoidea

|2={{clade

|1=Ursidae (bears) File:UrsusNasutusWolf white background.jpg

|2={{clade

|1=Pinnipedia (seals) File:Cambridge Natural History Mammalia Fig 230 white background.jpg

|label2=Musteloidea |sublabel2=("weasel" superfamily)

|2={{clade

|1=Mephitidae (skunks) File:Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen (Plate CXXI-) (white background).jpg