SCIURIDAE

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.

Contents

Classification

References

Classification

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

★ 'Family Sciuridae'

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★ Subfamily Ratufinae

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★ ''Ratufa''

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★ Subfamily Sciurillinae

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★ ''Sciurillus''

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★ Subfamily Sciurinae

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★ Tribe Sciurini

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★ ''Microsciurus''

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★ ''Rheithrosciurus''

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★ ''Sciurus''

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★ ''Syntheosciurus''

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★ ''Tamiasciurus''

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★ Tribe Pteromyini

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★ ''Aeretes''

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★ ''Aeromys''

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★ ''Belomys''

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★ ''Biswamoyopterus''

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★ ''Eoglaucomys''

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★ ''Eupetaurus''

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★ ''Glaucomys''

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★ ''Hylopetes''

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★ ''Iomys''

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★ ''Petaurillus''

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★ ''Petaurista''

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★ ''Petinomys''

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★ ''Pteromys''

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★ ''Pteromyscus''

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★ ''Trogopterus''

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★ Subfamily Callosciurinae

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★ ''Callosciurus''

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★ ''Dremomys''

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★ ''Exilisciurus''

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★ ''Funambulus''

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★ ''Glyphotes''

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★ ''Hyosciurus''

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★ ''Lariscus''

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★ ''Menetes''

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★ ''Nannosciurus''

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★ ''Prosciurillus''

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★ ''Rubrisciurus''

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★ ''Sundasciurus''

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★ ''Tamiops''

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★ Subfamily Xerinae

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★ Tribe Xerini

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★ ''Atlantoxerus''

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★ ''Spermophilopsis''

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★ ''Xerus''

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★ Tribe Protoxerini

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★ ''Epixerus''

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★ ''Funisciurus''

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★ ''Heliosciurus''

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★ ''Myosciurus''

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★ ''Paraxerus''

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★ ''Protoxerus''

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★ Tribe Marmotini

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★ ''Ammospermophilus''

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★ ''Cynomys''

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★ ''Marmota''

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★ ''Sciurotamias''

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★ ''Spermophilus''

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★ ''Tamias''

References

1. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals, John O. Whitaker, Jr., , , Knopf, 1980,


★ 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