Mustelidae Author Don E. Wilson Author Russell A. Mittermeier text 2009 2009-01-31 Lynx Edicions Barcelona Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 1 Carnivores 564 656 book chapter http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5714044 df4b6a3c-ae64-4bcf-a990-77fc6599759c 978-84-96553-49-1 5714044 14. Japanese Marten Martes melampus French: Martre du Japon / German: Japanischer Marder / Spanish: Marta japonesa Taxonomy. Mustela melampus Wagner, 1841 , Japan . Three subspecies are recognized. Subspecies and Distribution. M. m. melampus Wagner, 1841 — Japan (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku Is). M. m. coreensis Kuroda & Mori, 1923 — North and South Korea . M. m. tsuensis Thomas, 1897 — Japan (Tsushima I). Introduced on Sado and Hokkaido Is. Descriptive notes. Head-body 47-54.5 cm , tail 17-223 cm ; average weight is 1-5 kg for males and 1 kg for females. The Japanese Marten has a long body, short limbs, and a bushy tail. The pelage is yellowish-brown to dark brown, with a conspicuous white patch on the throat and upper chest. Habitat. Broadleaf forests. Food and Feeding. The diet includes small mammals, birds, amphibians, invertebrates (insects, centipedes, spiders, crustaceans, earthworms), fruits, and seeds. In the Kuju Highland on Kyushu, the mean frequencies of occurrence of food items in scats were 79-7% animals and 511% plants. The diet comprised mainly insects, mammals, crustaceans, and 36 plant species. There were high frequencies of insects from June to October, mammals in February, April and December, crustaceans in August and October, and plants in October and December. Scats collected from the Tsushima Islands revealed that small mammals comprised a relatively stable proportion of the diet throughout the year (range 8-2 to 16-8%), whereas birds showed a peak from January (11-3%) to March (14:6%). Amphibians, mostly small adult frogs (Rana tsushimensis), were most common in the diet in February (9-7%). Insects were the most common animal prey, but their proportions in the diet varied greatly from 10-5% in May to 27-8% in August, and they were consistently least common throughout the winter. Centipedes (mostly Scolopendra subspinipes) were frequently eaten during May andJune (16:9-17-4%). Plant materials were the most common of all foods throughout the year (28:8-53-9%). Berries and seeds occurred at the highest frequency in April (41%, especially Rubus hirsutus and Elaeagnus pungens) and in September (47-3%, especially Vitis ficifolia and Ficus electa). Activity patterns. Primarily nocturnal. Resting sites are in trees and in ground burrows. Movements, Home range and Social organization. On the Tsushima Islands, the mean home range size was 0-7 km ? for eight males and 0-63 km ? for three females ; home ranges were not significantly different between the sexes and ranged from 0-5- 1 km ?®. There waslittle overlap of home ranges. Breeding. Nothing known. Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern in The IUCN Red List. The subspecies M. m. tsuensisis classified as Vulnerable. The Japanese Marten is trapped forits fur during the hunting season (1 December to 31 January), except on Hokkaido Island. The subspecies M. m. tsuensis, found only on the Tsushima Islands, has been protected from trapping since 1971. Predation by feral dogs and highway mortality appear to be major threats. Bibliography. Arai et al. (2003), Kuroda & Mori (1923), Otani (2002), Shusei et al. (2003), Tatara (1994), Tatara & Doi (1994), Wozencraft (2005).