Mustela nivalis
Linnaeus, 1766 · speciesAt a glance
Sources12 archives
Databases and archives Mustela nivalis's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation17 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility75 769 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System183 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI24 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics46 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The least weasel (Mustela nivalis), little weasel, common weasel, or simply weasel is the smallest member of the genus Mustela, family Mustelidae and order Carnivora. It is native to Eurasia, North America and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Malta, Crete, the Azores, and São Tomé. It is classified as least concern by the IUCN, due to its wide distribution and large population throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The least weasel varies greatly in size over its range. The body is slender and elongated, and the legs and tail are relatively short. The colour varies geographically, as does the pelage type and length of tail. The dorsal surface, flanks, limbs and tail of the animal are usually some shade of brown while the underparts are white. The line delineating the boundary between the two colours is usually straight. At high altitudes and in the northern part of its range, the coat becomes pure white in winter. Eighteen subspecies are recognised. Small rodents form the largest part of the least weasel's diet, but it also kills and eats rabbits, other mammals, and occasionally birds, birds' eggs, fish and frogs. Males mark their territories with olfactory signals and have exclusive home ranges which may intersect with or include several female ranges. Least weasels use pre-existing holes to sleep, store food and raise their young. Breeding takes place in the spring and summer, and there is a single litter of about six kits which are reared exclusively by the female. Due to its small size and fierce nature, the least weasel plays an important part in the mythology and legend of various cultures.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology4
Life cycle & reproduction10
Diet & foraging3
Habitat & environment2
Physiology & chemistry2
Other traits5
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Mustela nivalis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Mustela nivalis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The solid bar is the fossil range: the span between the oldest and the youngest fossil that palaeontologists have assigned to Mustela nivalis. Above itBeside it, each dot is one dated fossil find — few enough to count, so they are drawn individually rather than as a graph. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil. Where the DNA reaches further back than the oldest fossil, the gap is hatched: the ghost lineage. It means the lineage was already out there, but has left us nothing we have dug up yet.
How it livedPBDB
Record type75 975 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions47 of 102 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Stockholm, SE | 493 |
| Bonn, DE | 320 |
| Kuopio, FI | 250 |
| Helsinki, FI | 232 |
| MRI-PASlocation not on record | 215 |
| Instytut Ochrony Przyrody Polskiej Akademii Nauklocation not on record | 169 |
| Dhaka, BD | 140 |
| Geneva, CH | 133 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 120 |
| Brussels, BE | 119 |
| Oulu, FI | 107 |
| Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record | 94 |
| Natural History Museum, Aarhus Denmarklocation not on record | 92 |
| IMEDEAlocation not on record | 90 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 81 |
| Paro, BT | 72 |
| Edmonton, CA | 63 |
| MZLUlocation not on record | 57 |
| Ohio State University - Mammal Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 53 |
| Fort Hays State University, Sternberg Museumlocation not on record | 45 |
| Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record | 44 |
| Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record | 43 |
| Salzburg, AT | 43 |
| Musee d'Histoire Naturallelocation not on record | 38 |
| UNIBUClocation not on record | 35 |
| Auckland, NZ | 29 |
| Barcelona, ES | 25 |
| NHMOlocation not on record | 24 |
| South Kensington, GB | 22 |
| NTNU-VMlocation not on record | 19 |
| Naturmuseum Solothurnlocation not on record | 19 |
| Provincia di Livornolocation not on record | 18 |
| Museo civico di Storia naturale Giacomo Doria di Genova | Giacomo Doria Natural History Museum in Genoalocation not on record | 17 |
| Toronto, CA | 17 |
| Liverpool, GB | 17 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 16 |
| Fribourg, CH | 16 |
| Kristiansand, NO | 15 |
| Bergen, NO | 14 |
| Philip L. Wright Zoological Museumlocation not on record | 14 |
| Museum Zofingenlocation not on record | 14 |
| Indiana State Universitylocation not on record | 13 |
| Universität Zürich, Naturhistorisches Museumlocation not on record | 13 |
| Tromsø, NO | 12 |
| Forssa, FI | 12 |
| MUZOO - Musée d'histoire naturelle de La Chaux-de-Fondslocation not on record | 10 |
| Frauenfeld, CH | 10 |
| Museum Ludovicae Ulricae, Zoology Institute of the University of Uppsalalocation not on record | 10 |
| Muzeum Górnośląskie w Bytomiulocation not on record | 9 |
| Uniwersytet w Białymstokulocation not on record | 9 |
| Chicago, US | 9 |
| Tacoma, US | 9 |
| Washington State University, Charles R. Conner Museumlocation not on record | 8 |
| Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural Historylocation not on record | 8 |
| IZLAlocation not on record | 8 |
| Seattle, US | 7 |
| München, DE | 7 |
| Rovaniemi, FI | 6 |
| Washington, US | 6 |
| Los Angeles, US | 6 |
| Naturéum — Muséum cantonal des sciences naturelles, Lausanne, Département Zoologielocation not on record | 6 |
| Bern, CH | 6 |
| Naturmuseum St. Gallenlocation not on record | 6 |
| Ugentlocation not on record | 5 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 5 |
| University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrateslocation not on record | 5 |
| CBDClocation not on record | 5 |
| Berkeley, US | 5 |
| University of Wisconsin, Zoological Museumlocation not on record | 4 |
| Paris, FR | 4 |
| Emporia, US | 4 |
| Ohio Wesleyan University Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 4 |
| John May Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 3 |
| Universidad de Navarra, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 3 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 3 |
| Albany, US | 3 |
| Tilburg, NL | 3 |
| EEZAlocation not on record | 2 |
| Bourges, FR | 2 |
| New Haven, US | 2 |
| Cincinnati, US | 2 |
| California State University, Long Beachlocation not on record | 2 |
| Banyoles, ES | 2 |
| Natural History Museum, Londonlocation not on record | 2 |
| Iowa City, US | 2 |
| East Lansing, US | 2 |
| Gothenburg, SE | 2 |
| Ithaca, US | 2 |
| National Natural History Collectionslocation not on record | 1 |
| CEFElocation not on record | 1 |
| Agder Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 1 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 1 |
| Zoological Museum, Moscow Lomonosov State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Wisconsin-Stevens Pointlocation not on record | 1 |
| DASSHlocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Zacatecas, MX | 1 |
| SGAV-and-NHMDlocation not on record | 1 |
| Provo, US | 1 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 1 |
| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record | 1 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Mustela nivalis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.