MammalBase - Accepted taxon: Mellivora capensis

Accepted taxon: Mellivora capensis
Taxon:	Mellivora capensis
Rank:	Species
Higher Classification:	CARNIVORA \| CANIFORMIA \| Mustelidae \| Mustelinae \| Mellivora
Reference:	Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), JHU Press, 2005.

Fig.1 - Ternary plot of the proximate analysis for the Mellivora capensis diet.
CF (Crude Fibre) 5, ASH (Ash contents) 9, NFE (Nitrogen-Free-Extract) 19, CP (Crude Protein) 51, EE (Ether Extract) 16. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 1. List of Diet Items for Mellivora capensis.
TSN Complete name	Part	Ratio ^a.	Reference(s)
Mammalia	WHOLE	25.87	Damuth, J…
Magnoliopsida	EXUDATES	10.94	Damuth, J…
Aves	WHOLE	10.21	Grzimek,B…
Vertebrata	CARRION	10.08	Damuth, J…
Reptilia	WHOLE	10.04	Grzimek,B…
Arthropoda	WHOLE	9.96	Damuth, J…
Magnoliopsida	FRUIT	5.41	Grzimek,B…
Rodentia	WHOLE	4.91	Grzimek,B…
Magnoliopsida	SHOOT	4.79	Damuth, J…
Insecta	WHOLE	3.93	Grzimek,B…
Magnoliopsida	ROOT	1.97	Grzimek,B…
Vertebrata	EGGS	0.98	Grzimek,B…
Apoidea	WHOLE	0.90	Nowak,R. …

^a. Standardized values. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 2. List of Standard Traits for Mellivora capensis.
Trait	Selected Value	All Value(s)	Reference(s)
Locomotion: Eisenberg 1981	Terrestrial	Terrestrial	– John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554
Dietary category: Eisenberg 1981	Carnivore	Carnivore, Frugivore-omnivore, Insectivore	– A. R. Friscia, B. Van Valkenburgh, A. R. Biknevicius, 2007, 'An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans', Journal of Zoology, vol. 272, no. 1, pp. 82-100, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554, Juhn, M., Balisi, M., Doughty, E., Friscia, A., Howenstine, A., Jacquemetton, C., Marcot, J., Nugen, S., Van Valkenburgh, B. 2024. Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology. Paleobiology. None(None), pp.1-10. Available at: 10.1017/pab.2024.27.
Dietary category: Miljutin 2009	Animalivore	Animalivore, Frugivore	– A. R. Friscia, B. Van Valkenburgh, A. R. Biknevicius, 2007, 'An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans', Journal of Zoology, vol. 272, no. 1, pp. 82-100, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554, Juhn, M., Balisi, M., Doughty, E., Friscia, A., Howenstine, A., Jacquemetton, C., Marcot, J., Nugen, S., Van Valkenburgh, B. 2024. Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology. Paleobiology. None(None), pp.1-10. Available at: 10.1017/pab.2024.27.
Temporal habits	nocturnal and crepuscular	nocturnal and crepuscular	– John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554

Table 3. List of Standard Measurements for Mellivora capensis.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	-	-	-	-	3,640	-	16,000	-	Freudenth…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	-	-	-	-	-	9,000	-	-	Juhn, M.,…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	1	1	-	-	-	11,793.4	-	-	Engelman,…
Head-Body Length (HBL)	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	741.5	-	-	Engelman,…
Occipital condyle width (OCW)	nan	mm	1	1	-	-	-	40.34	-	-	Engelman,…

Table 4. List of other Measurements ^b. for Mellivora capensis.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
brainmass	nan	g	-	-	-	-	-	73	-	-	Engelman,…
skull_length	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	134	-	-	Engelman,…
femur circumference	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	35	-	-	Nelson, A…
femur diameter	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	12	-	-	Nelson, A…
humerus circumference	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	36	-	-	Nelson, A…
humerus diameter	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	12	-	-	Nelson, A…
relative blade length (RBL)	nan	unitless	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	Juhn, M.S…

^b. other Measurements. Source Measurements which are not listed on or mapped with the Standard Traits..

Table 5. List of Data Sources for Mellivora capensis.
Taxon	Reference	Match	Status
Mellivora capensis	Gittleman,J. L., 1985, Carnivore body size: ecological and taxonomic correlates, Oecologia	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Friscia,AR, 2006, An ecomorphological analysis of extant small carnivorans, Journal of zoology	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Damuth, J. 2010. ABSOLUT 6 a mammalian database compiled by the national center for ecological analysis and synthesis (NCEAS ) workshop on mammalian communities.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Nowak,R. M., 1991, Walker's mammals of the world,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Grzimek,B., 2003, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Mammals I-V,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Nowak,R. M., 1991, Walker's mammals of the world,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Law, C.J., Blackwell, E.A., Curtis, A.A., Dickinson, E., Hartstone‐Rose, A. and Santana, S.E., 2022. Decoupled evolution of the cranium and mandible in carnivoran mammals. Evolution.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Engelman, R.K., 2022. Occipital condyle width (OCW) is a highly accurate predictor of body mass in therian mammals. BMC biology, 20(1), p.37.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	DeMers, A.C., 2023. Functional Significance of the Mandible, Tooth Roots, and Tooth Crowns, and their Implications for Fossil Dietary Inference (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Nelson, A., Engelman, R.K. and Croft, D.A., 2023. How to weigh a fossil mammal? South American notoungulates as a case study for estimating body mass in extinct clades. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 30(3), pp.773-809.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Freudenthal, M. and Martín-Suárez, E., 2013. Estimating body mass of fossil rodents. Scripta Geologica, 145, pp.1-513.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Juhn, M.S., Balisi, M.A., Doughty, E.M., Friscia, A.R., Howenstine, A.O., Jacquemetton, C., Marcot, J., Nugen, S. and Van Valkenburgh, B., 2024. Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology. Paleobiology, pp.1-10.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Beaudrot, L., Acevedo, M.A., Gorczynski, D. and Harris, N.C., 2024. Geographic differences in body size distributions underlie food web connectance of tropical forest mammals. Scientific Reports, 14(1), pp.1-10.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Mellivora capensis	Rowan, J., Beaudrot, L., Franklin, J., Reed, K.E., Smail, I.E., Zamora, A. and Kamilar, J.M., 2020. Geographically divergent evolutionary and ecological legacies shape mammal biodiversity in the global tropics and subtropics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(3), pp.1559-1565.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted

Citation for this page: [The MammalBase community 2026. / CC BY 4.0. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7462864 Mellivora capensis , Accessed 16th April 2026 at https://mammalbase.net/me/14943]