Meles (genus)

Meles is a genus of badgers containing three living species, the Japanese badger (Meles anakuma), Asian badger (Meles leucurus), and European badger (Meles meles). In an older categorization, they were seen as a single species with three subspecies (Meles meles anakuma, Meles meles leucurus and Meles meles meles). There are also several extinct members of the genus.

Taxonomy

The genus Meles was erected by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1762 after Carl Linnaeus had described the Eurasian badger Meles meles in 1758. This animal had a very extensive range over most of temperate Europe and Asia and there has been much discussion as to whether it is a single species or three distinct species. There are geographical differences between individuals from different parts of the range in skull structure, morphology of the first premolar teeth, and facial markings. Some authorities advocated placing European and Asian badgers in separate species, Meles meles and Meles leptorhynchus (Milne-Edwards, 1867), the boundary between the two being the Volga River. Others considered there to be three subspecies, M. m. meles, found west of the Volga, M. m. arenarius-leptorhynchus, found between the Volga and Transbaikalia, and M. m. amurensis-anakuma from the Amur region and Primorskii.