Geographic Variation and Taxonomic Revision of Mink (Mustela vison) in Florida

Mink are absent from most of the interior of peninsular Florida but occur in three disjunct, peripheral populations, where they are relatively common. Examination of 171 Recent and three fossil specimens showed that each of these populations is a distinct subspecies. The population from the gulf coast of northern Florida is described as a new subspecies, the status of the subspecies lutensis is confirmed, and evergladensis of southern Florida is subsumed as a disjunct population of the subspecies mink. The new subspecies and lutensis appear to have differentiated from a common ancestor early in the Pleistocene. The distribution of Recent populations can be explained by discontinuous coastal habitats and some other range-limiting mechanism, possibly either disease or predation by large, freshwater reptiles. The carnassial teeth provide the most important dental characters distinguishing these southeastern mink, and variation is mainly in size. A clinal north-to-south decrease in size of the dental apparatus is demonstrated within lutensis.