Mustelidae

Mustelidae (from Latin mustela, weasel), commonly referred to as the weasel family, is a family of carnivorous mammals. Mustelids are diverse and the largest family in the order Carnivora, at least partly because, in the past, it has been a catch-all category for many early or poorly differentiated taxa. The internal classification still seems to be rather unsettled, with rival proposals containing between two and eight subfamilies. One study published in 2008 questions the long-accepted Mustelinae subfamily, and suggests the Mustelidae consist of four major clades and three much smaller lineages.