A MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF THE FAMILY MUSTELIDAE (MAMMALIA, CARNIVORA),BASED ON COMPARISON OF MITOCHONDRIAL CYTOCHROME-B NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCES

To study the phylogenetic relationships between the species of the fam ily Mustelidae, by using the improved polymerase chain reaction-produc t direct sequencing technique, nucleotide sequences (375 bases) of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene were determined on ten species from f ive genera of the Mustelidae and three species of other carnivore fami lies, all of which are distributed in or around Japan. The molecular p hylogenetic tree indicated a clear separation of five genera: Mustela and Martes from the subfamily Mustelinae, Lutra and Enhydra from the s ubfamily Lutrinae, and Meles from the subfamily Melinae. This clusteri ng agreed with the previously reported morphological and karyological taxonomy. Furthermore, the relationships between the intrageneric spec ies were discussed in more detail. This is the first report on the mol ecular phylogeny throughout the Japanese species of the Mustelidae, in ferred from the mitochondrial DNA sequences.