I have to admit I was skunked until I looked this one up (came across it in the new Smithsonian).
The word is not listed in Cambridge or Merriam-Webster, and there's only 4 hits on OneLook, all pretty generic with no etymolgies. This is the best I could find, from YourDictionary.com:

mustelid n : fissiped fur-bearing carnivorous mammals [syn: musteline mammal, musteline]

Any OED'ers, or anyone, whom I could badger for more background on this word? I'm assuming Latin. But since I left most of my Latin back in 9th grade with a one-year course, "Salve magistra!," I'll have to toss this one over to Faldage.

Aw, W'ON, this would have been a perfect Hogwash word. Drat!

I'll see what I can ferret out on this one. Should be able to weasel something out of my Chambers.....

stales

From Jackie's post about poisonous PMs we know we have a black and white striped mustelid member on the board, a cowardly character assassin, capable of discharging a vile odor caused by a sulfur containing secretion, a horrible mercaptan mephitis.

As usual, a URL http://members.aol.com/ctraisi/fundpage/skunk2.htm

fissiped

adj., having the toes separated from Lat. fissus p.ppl of findere, to split + ped(em), pes, foot.

So, when someone says "He smells so musty", they are refering to a musteline, not a basement, smell. Now I get it. D'oh! Not musky though. No, no, not musky.

fissiped Vertebrate Zoology. 1. having the toes separated to the base,
as in cloven-hooved animals.having the toes separated to the base, as in
cloven-hooved animals. 2. of or relating to the carnivorous suborder
Fissipeda, which includes cats, dogs, and bears.of or relating to the
carnivorous suborder Fissipeda, which includes cats, dogs, and bears.

Dear Faldage: does this conflict with definition you have?

Dr. Bill

I see, rereading my defintion, that the toes are separated from Latin. Perhaps, rather, they should have been separated from a comma.

mustelid comes from the Latin name for weasel (mustela) and was adopted as a genus name (Mustelidæ) ca. 1758.
-joe wednesday

Thanks joe! I knew we could weasel sumptin' out of ya! taking the hint from stales
A weasely pack of weasels, ain't we?

I would have liked to add to this thread whilst it was hot - maybe Ishould wait until it's 'otter?

weasels, badgers, otters tayras, martens, wolverines, and other lithe carnivorous creatures

I once saw a wonderful Nature program about wolverines. Prodigiously powerful, crafty, ferocious, and fearless. And provided with a musk so potent that no other animal will steal from their food caches.

And that old saw - how do you tell the difference between a weasel and a stoat? Well, one's weasily distinguished and the other stoatally different ...

I didn't know what a "tayra" was I looked it up. Here's a URL about it.

http://www.scz.org/animals/t/tayra.html

Michigan is supposed to be the wolverine state, yet I have never seen one, not even during my wood nymph wanderings in search of mushrooms. I've never even smelled one, which, I gather, is lucky on my part. I'm talking about the real animals, Sparteye, not the fake ones from Ann Arbor

Well, one's weasily distinguished and the other stoatally different ...

Erminy times have we heard that before?

Red Fox and Dan Marino said it several times, but they may have been talking about marten sheen. I also heard it once at coney island, but now my Fox channel has been dis-sabled and I won't hear it there because I'm too chinchilla to get it fixed.

Since you all know I'm a raccoonteur I'm sure you're lapin this up.

TEd -- seal crazy after all these years


Will nothing dissuede me???

I've never even smelled one, which, I gather, is lucky on my part. I'm talking about the real animals, Sparteye, not the fake ones from Ann Arbor

It's especially lucky if you're talking about the fake ones.

TEd, you are testing our fur-bearing natures.

>>our fur-bearing natures

Who are you speaking for?

Who[m] are you speaking for? [sic]

Note the above, dear SBD. Time to put mustalid on it.

Howye

I checked the above word in me tedasaurus and it said that a mustelid is a brain washen device used ta get sneaky messages ta the sub-conscious.

GT

We should have had AnnaStrophic answer this one..
then Time to put mustalid on it. coulda have been posted it as We mus(t)alid on it put, at this time!-
only, she weaselly wooda dun it better than me!