The stripe-backed weasel Mustela strigidorsa: taxonomy, ecology, distribution and status

1. The stripe-backed weasel Mustela strigidorsa is one of the rarest and least-known mustelids in the world. Its phylogenetic relationships with other Mustela species remain controversial, though several unique morphological features distinguish it from congeners. 2. It probably lives mainly in evergreen forests in hills and mountains, but has also been recorded from plains forest, dense scrub, secondary forest, grassland and farmland. Known sites range in altitude from 90 m to 2500 m. Data are insufficient to distinguish between habitat and altitudes which support populations, and those where only dispersing animals may occur. 3. It has been confirmed from many localities in north-east India, north and central Myanmar, south China, north Thailand, north and central Laos, and north and central Vietnam. Given the limited survey effort, the number of recent records shows that the species is not as rare as hitherto believed. Neither specific nor urgent conservation needs are apparent.

We are thankful to the collection managers Nguyen Huu Duc (Paedagogical Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam), Vu Ngoc Thanh (Zoological Museum, National University of Hanoi, Vietnam), Daphne Hills and Paula Jenkins (Natural History Museum, London, UK), Olavi Gronwall (Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden) and Michi Schulenberg (The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA) for access to the zoological collections; Ji H. Mazak (Shanghai Science & Technology Museum, Shanghai, China) and He Fen-qi (Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China) for information about the specimens held in China; Lua Hui Kheng (Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, Singapore), Darrin Lunde (American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA), Jarujin Nabhitabhata (National Science Museum, Bangkok, Thailand), Geraldine Veron (Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France) and Joe Walston (Cambodia Camera- trap archives) for information about other collections' holdings; and Charles Davies, Normand David, Edward Dickinson, Troy Hansel, Saw Htun and Than Zaw (Wildlife Conservation Society Myanmar Programme), Pralad B. Yonzon (Resources Himalaya Foundation, Nepal), Budsabong Kanchanasaka (National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Thailand), Steven R. Swan, Tim and Carol Inskipp, Matt Jeffreys, Arlyne Johnson, Jonathan Murray, T. R. S. Raman, Ted Tizard, Surachit Waengsothorn, Aparajita Datta, and Ken Aplin for information about other records. We are indebted to Viatcheslav Rozhnov (A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia), Dmitri Logunov (University of Manchester, Manchester, UK), Robert Olley and Steve Johnson (Wildlife Conservation Society) who supplied copies of many papers and some additional data.