Marten

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Martens

American Marten
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Subfamily: Mustelinae
Genus: Martes
Pinel, 1792
Species
  • Martes americana
  • Martes flavigula
  • Martes foina
  • Martes gwatkinsii
  • Martes martes
  • Martes melampus
  • Martes pennanti
  • Martes zibellina
For the Wiltshire village see Marten, Wiltshire.

For the town in Bulgaria, see Marten, Bulgaria.

“Martens” redirects here. For other uses, see Martens (disambiguation).

The Martens constitute the genus Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae, in family Mustelidae. Martens are carnivorous animals related to wolverines, minks and weasels. Many are tree-dwellers, preying most commonly on squirrels. Their diet also consists of birds, fish, insects and eggs. Recent DNA research has shown that the genus Martes is in fact polyphyletic, placing Martes pennanti and Martes americana outside the genus and allying it with Eira and Gulo, to form a new New World clade.

[edit] Etymology

The word "marten" is of original Germanic origin. The Modern English "marten" comes from the Middle English "martryn", in turn derived from the Anglo-French "martrine" and Old French "martre". (Compare to French "martes".)

The word for marten in Croatian is "kuna" and this word has been adopted as the name of the national currency of Croatia.

[edit] Species

Wikispecies has information related to:
Martes
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Martes
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marten"