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          Systematics is the science dealing with the diversity of organisms and the relationships among them, and taxonomy is the theory and practice of classifying and naming organisms. The prevailing system of classification many systematists follow is one based on evolutionary histories or phylogenetic relationships. When skunks were reclassified (see Dragoo and Honeycutt 1997) and placed into their own family it was because of the phylogenetic relationships among skunks, weasels, and other carnivores based on molecular (DNA) data.
          Skunks are classified in the Animal Kingdom, which distinguishes them from plants, fungi, and bacteria. Within this kingdom they are grouped with the animals that have a notochord (Phylum Chordata). For our purposes, this phylum contains the animals that have a spinal cord and vertebrae (Subphylum Vertebrata), and include such things as fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles, and mammals (Campbell 1993). Skunks, of course are mammals. These are the fuzzy animals with heterodont (different types) teeth, a single bone in the lower jaw, and nourish their young with milk secreted from mammary glands (Vaughan et al. 2000) Within the mammals, skunks are classified as members of the Order Carnivora.

Below is the classification of skunks that we follow.

Kingdom - Animalia
     Phylum - Chordata
          Class - Mammalia
               Order - Carnivora
                    Family - Mephitidae (Bonaparte 1845)
                         Genus - Conepatus Gray 1837
                              Species - Conepatus chinga (Molina 1782)
                              Species - Conepatus humboldtii Gray 1837
                              Species - Conepatus leuconotus (Lichtenstein 1832)
                              Species - Conepatus semistriatus (Boddaert 1784)
                         Genus - Mephitis E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and G. Baron Cuvier 1795
                              Species - Mephitis macroura Lichtenstein 1832
                              Species - Mephitis mephitis (Schreber 1776)
                         Genus - Mydaus F. G. Cuvier 1821
                              Species - Mydaus javanensis (Desmarest 1820)
                              Species - Mydaus marchei (Huet 1887)
                         Genus - Spilogale Gray 1865
                              Species - Spilogale angustifrons Howell 1902
                              Species - Spilogale gracilis Merriam 1890
                              Species - Spilogale putorius (Linnaeus 1758)
                              Species - Spilogale pygmaea Thomas 1898