Sciuridae
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Skull of an Oriental giant squirrel. Note the classic sciuromorphous shape of the anterior zygomatic region.
The Sciurids or squirrels are a large family of rodents. 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. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
- [Andrew's Squirrel Encyclopaedia]
- [List of names of squirrel taxa]
| Rodent Families |
|---|
| Sciuromorpha: †Allomyidae | Aplodontiidae | †Mylagaulidae | †Reithroparamyidae | Sciuridae | Gliridae |
| Castorimorpha: †Eutypomyidae | Castoridae | †Rhizospalacidae | †Eomyidae | †Heliscomyidae | †Mojavemyidae | Heteromyidae | Geomyidae |
| Myomorpha: †Armintomidae | Dipodidae | Zapodidae | †Anomalomyidae | †Simimyidae | Platacanthomyidae | Spalacidae | Calomyscidae | Nesomyidae | Cricetidae | Muridae |
| Anomaluromorpha: Anomaluridae | †Parapedetidae | Pedetidae |
| Hystricomorpha: †Tamquammyidae | Ctenodactylidae | Diatomyidae | †Yuomyidae | †Chapattimyidae | †Tsaganomyidae | †"Baluchimyinae" | †Bathyergoididae | Bathyergidae | Hystricidae | †Myophiomyidae | †Diamantomyidae | †Phiomyidae | †Kenyamyidae | Petromuridae | Thryonomyidae | Erethizontidae | Chinchillidae | Dinomyidae | Caviidae | Dasyproctidae | †Eocardiidae | Cuniculidae | †Amblyrhizidae | Ctenomyidae | Octodontidae | †Neoepiblemidae | Abrocomidae | Echimyidae | Myocastoridae | Capromyidae | †Heptaxodontidae |
| Prehistoric rodents (incertae sedis): †Eurymylidae | †Cocomyidae | †Alagomyidae | †Ivanantoniidae | †Laredomyidae | †Ischyromyidae | †Theridomyidae | †Protoptychidae | †Zegdoumyidae | †Sciuravidae | †Cylindrodontidae |
| † indicates extinct taxa |
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