Martinogale alveodens

Martinogale alveodens is an extinct skunk of the Late Miocene of central North America and the type species of the genus Martinogale. It was described in 1930 as a small mustelid from a fragmentary lower jaw found in the Edson Quarry of Kansas, from the late Hemphillian, and it was made the type of the new genus. Because the jaw was so fragmentary, the placement of Martinogale within the weasel family seemed feasible but uncertain, partly from similarities to the earlier Martes nambianus, until a better preserved jaw in 1938 showed similarities with the spotted skunks of the Mephitidae. The species name joins Latin alveus, a hollow, cavity or channel, with dens, tooth. Like most fossil skunks it has been described only from fragmentary cranial remains, and the genus is characterised mainly by its jaws.