ground squirrel

 

name applied to certain terrestrial rodents of the squirrel family. In North America the name refers to members of the genus Citellus and sometimes to the closely related genera Tamias (chipmunk), Cynomys (prairie dog), and Marmota (marmot and woodchuck). Citellus species are found in Asia, E Europe, and North America. In the Old World they are called sousliks. Other ground squirrel genera are found in Africa and S Asia. The approximately 30 North American species of Citellus are found W of Hudson Bay, from the Arctic Ocean to central Mexico. These ground squirrels have rounded heads, short ears and legs, and shorter, less bushy tails than tree squirrels. Their combined head and body length is 4¹/₂ to 13¹/₂ in. (11.4–33 cm) depending on the species; the tail is usually a third to two thirds as long. Most are gregarious, living in extensive underground burrows; they hibernate in colder parts of their range. Members of different species are found in prairie grasslands, arctic tundra, mountain meadows, open forest, desert, and scrub country. In some regions the ground squirrel is called gopher, a name more commonly applied to burrowing rodents of a different family. Primarily vegetarian in their diet, ground squirrels may become agricultural pests, but they destroy insects and mice as well as crops. Their tunnels cause landslides and erosion, but also serve to mix and aerate the soil. Ground squirrels are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Rodentia, family Sciuridae.

Bibliography

See J. O. Murie and G. R. Michener, ed., The Biology of Ground-Dwelling Squirrels (1984).

Sciurids Fossil range: Late Eocene - Recent
Eastern Gray Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Family: Sciuridae Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
Subfamilies
Subfamily Ratufinae Subfamily Sciurillinae Subfamily Sciurinae Tribe Sciurini Tribe Pteromyini Subfamily Callosciurinae Subfamily Xerinae Tribe Xerini Tribe Protoxerini Tribe Marmotini

The Sciurids or squirrels are a large family of rodents. The word Sciuridae means "shade-tail," and refers to the bushy appendage possessed by many of its members^[1]. It includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, the marmots (which include woodchucks), and the true flying squirrels. The African scaly-tailed flying squirrels, which belong to the family Anomaluridae, are not sciurids. Sciurids are found in all continents except Australasia and Antarctica.

Classification

The squirrel family is divided into 5 sub-families, 51 genera and 278 species.

• Family Sciuridae
  • Subfamily Ratufinae
    • Ratufa
  • Subfamily Sciurillinae
    • Sciurillus
  • Subfamily Sciurinae
    • Tribe Sciurini
      • Microsciurus
      • Rheithrosciurus
      • Sciurus
      • Syntheosciurus
      • Tamiasciurus
    • Tribe Pteromyini
      • Aeretes
      • Aeromys
      • Belomys
      • Biswamoyopterus
      • Eoglaucomys
      • Eupetaurus
      • Glaucomys
      • Hylopetes
      • Iomys
      • Petaurillus
      • Petaurista
      • Petinomys
      • Pteromys
      • Pteromyscus
      • Trogopterus
  • Subfamily Callosciurinae
    • Callosciurus
    • Dremomys
    • Exilisciurus
    • Funambulus
    • Glyphotes
    • Hyosciurus
    • Lariscus
    • Menetes
    • Nannosciurus
    • Prosciurillus
    • Rubrisciurus
    • Sundasciurus
    • Tamiops
  • Subfamily Xerinae
    • Tribe Xerini
      • Atlantoxerus
      • Spermophilopsis
      • Xerus
    • Tribe Protoxerini
      • Epixerus
      • Funisciurus
      • Heliosciurus
      • Myosciurus
      • Paraxerus
      • Protoxerus
    • Tribe Marmotini
      • Ammospermophilus
      • Cynomys
      • Marmota
      • Sciurotamias
      • Spermophilus
      • Tamias

References

• Steppan, S. J. B. L. Storz, and R. S. Hoffmann. 2004. Nuclear DNA phylogeny of the squirrels (Mammalia: Rodentia) and the evolution of arboreality from c-myc and RAG1. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 30:703-719.
• Thorington, R. W. and R. S. Hoffmann. 2005. Family Sciuridae. Pp 754-818 in Mammal Species of the World A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
• Andrew's Squirrel Encyclopaedia
• List of names of squirrel taxa

nds-nl:Katekers

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