Mustela erminea Linnaeus, 1758 . Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1:46.

TYPE LOCALITY: "Europa and Asia frigidiore; hyeme praefertim in alpinis regionibus nivea" .

DISTRIBUTION: Circumboreal, tundra and forested regions of Palearctic, south to the Pyrenees, alpine Slovenia, Alps, Caucasus, W Himalayas, and Xinjiang (China); N Mongolia, N China; and C Honshu (Japan); and, in the Nearctic south to C California, N New Mexico, N Iowa and Maryland (USA). Introduced to New Zealand.

STATUS: CITES - Appendix III (India).

SYNONYMS: alascensis Merriam, 1896; algiricus Thomas, 1895; anguinae Hall, 1932; angustidens Brown, 1908; arcticus Merriam, 1896; audax Barrett-Hamilton, 1904; bangsi Hall, 1945; celenda Hall, 1944; cigognanii Bonaparte, 1838; fallendo Hall, 1945; ferghanae Thomas, 1895; gulosa Hall, 1945; haidarum Preble, 1898; herminea Oken, 1816; hibernicus Thomas and Barrett-Hamilton, 1895; imperii Barrett-Hamilton, 1904; initis Hall, 1944; invicta Hall, 1945; kadiacensis Merriam, 1896; kanei G. M. Allen, 1914; labiata Degerbol, 1935; leptus Merriam, 1903; lymani Hollister, 1912; microtis J. A. Allen, 1903; mortigena Bangs, 1913; muricus Bangs, 1899; nippon Cabrera, 1913; olympica Hall, 1945; polaris Barrett-Hamilton, 1904; pusilla DeKay, 1842; richardsonii Bonaparte, 1838; rixosa Svihla and Svihla, 1932; salva Hall, 1944; seclusa Hall, 1944; semplei Sutton and Hamilton, 1932; streatori Merriam, 1896; vulgaris Griffith, 1827; whiteheadi Wroughton, 1908 .

COMMENTS: Revised by Eger (1990). Reviewed by C. M. King (1983, Mammalian Species, 195). Youngman (1982) placed erminea in the subgenus Mustela .