Buisnictis metabatos

Buisnictis metabatos is an extinct skunk named by Wang and colleagues in 2014, in a paper that presents it as a transitional skunk from Baja California Sur. It is the most recently named of the four accepted species of Buisnictis. The Paleobiology Database counts one fossil occurrence and dates it from the Zanclean to the Calabrian stage, roughly 4.7 to 1.4 million years ago. The Wikipedia article on the genus says the 2014 authors suggested that this species may have been the ancestor of the crown Pleistocene skunks. The genus Buisnictis lived in Pliocene North America, with fossils found from Washington to Baja California, and an analysis published in 2005 recovered it as a more derived skunk.