Oligobunis

Oligobunis Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Subfamily:	Oligobuninae
Genus:	Oligobunis
Species:	O. crassivultus O. floridanus

Oligobunis is an extinct genus of mustelids, which existed during the Miocene period.

The genus was first described by E. D. Cope in 1881. Cope assigned the genus to the family Mustelidae, and J. A. Baskin assigned it to the subfamily Oligobuninae in 1998. Two species have been identified in the genus: O. crassivultus and O. floridanus.^[1] Three more - O. gemmarosae, O. lepidus, and O. vantasselensis - were later assigned to the genus Promartes.^[2] Oligobunis floridanus was a medium-sized badger type mustelid carnivore that filled the niche of small cats during the "cat gap" of the early to middle Miocene in North America. Its fossils have been discovered in Florida, Nebraska, and Oregon.

Notes

1. ^ Paleobiology Database (Oligobunis)
2. ^ Riggs (1942)

References

After The Dinosaurs.(2006) Donald R. Prothero. Indiana University Press. ISBN.13:978-0-253-34733

• "Oligobunis at the Paleobiology Database.". paleodb.org. http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=41142. Retrieved 2008-11-25. 

• "E. S. Riggs 1942, summarised at the Paleobiology Database.". paleodb.org. http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=displayReference&reference_no=2910. Retrieved 2008-11-29.