Brachypsalis is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of mustelids, which existed during the Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 period.

The genus was first described by E. D. Cope in 1890. A similar genus, Brachypsaloides, was later identified as synonymous with Brachypsalis. Cope assigned the genus to the family Mustelidae

Mustelidae

Mustelidae , commonly referred to as the weasel family, are a family of carnivorous mammals. Mustelids are diverse and the largest family in the order Carnivora, at least partly because in the past it has been a catch-all category for many early or poorly differentiated taxa...

, whilst J. A. Baskin assigned it to the subfamily Oligobuninae

Oligobuninae

Oligobuninae is an extinct subfamily of the Mustelidae family.The subfamily was described by J. A. Baskin in 1998, who assigned seven genera to it - Brachypsalis, Megalictis, Oligobunis, Paroligobunis, Potamotherium, Promartes, and Zodiolestes - representing thirteen separate species....

in 1998.

Five species have been identified in the genus: B. hyaenoides, B. matutinus, B. modicus, B. obliquidens, and B. pachycephalus. A sixth species, B. simplicidens, was later determined to be synonymous with Megalictis ferox

Megalictis ferox

Megalictis ferox was a species of large predatory mustelid, now extinct, which existed in North America during the "cat gap" in the Miocene period. It is thought to have resembled a large wolverine, with a body mass of up to 60 kg....

.