The long-tailed weasel (Neogale frenata), also known as the bridled weasel, masked ermine, or big stoat, is a species of weasel found in North, Central, and South America. It is distinct from the short-tailed weasel (Mustela erminea), also known as a "stoat", a close relation in the genus Mustela that originated in Eurasia and crossed into North America some half million years ago; the two species are visually similar, having long, slender bodies and tails with short legs and a black tail tip.
Long-tailed weasels exhibit scale-dependent patterns of habitat selection, favoring forest patches, fencerows, and drainage ditches while avoiding agricultural fields. They typically make their habitats in forests and underground in burrows of other small mammals.
Taxonomy
The long-tailed weasel was originally described in the genus Mustela with the name Mustela frenata by Hinrich Lichtenstein in 1831. In 1993, the classification, Mustela frenata, was accepted into the second edition of the Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference, which was published by the Smithsonian Institution Press. The species, with classification and name Mustela frenata, was accepted into the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Later, in a study published in 2021 in the Journal of Animal Diversity, Bruce Patterson et al. reclassified the long-tailed weasel into the genus Neogale along with two other former Mustela species, as well as the two species formerly classified in Neovison.
